She will remember how she told them what she hadn’t known before: that war is about fire and fear and bodies lying in ditches by the side of the road.” If I could, I would give the first half of this book 1 star, from about the middle until the final chapter 5 stars, and the final chapter 3 stars - - - so I guess that, all in all, the 3 star rating is probably the most accurate.

I immediately connected to both sisters and although I related more to Meredith, I also liked Nina and I loved that the author showed both their good and bad sides. The mother was so distant and cold but the whole point of the story is to get to know the mother and understand everything she went through. El que tenga oportunidad que lea este libro, lo disfrute a pesar de las tragedias, porque de ellas, definitivamente también aprendemos.

I experienced Hannah’s writing slightly more than a year ago when I read The Nightingale and I liked it very much! My friend Leslie then recommended this one as her favorite by the author and I did not think twice and got a copy of the book! Leslie was right because this was hauntingly beautiful! But Meredith and Nina and their mother come together through the fairy tale, which reveals long buried secrets of pain and sadness. I can't say more without going into spoiler territory. There is a connection to the siege of Leningrad. I recommend reading The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad by Harrison E. Salisbury. Be patient during the first half, it gets very good and emotional the second half. This is written in the past and present tense, which is a common format in many novels, but one that I enjoy. It's like reading two different novels.

To lose love is a terrible thing,But to turn away from it is unbearable. Will you spend the rest of your life replaying it in your head? Wondering if you walked away too soon or too easily? Or if you’ll ever love anyone that deeply again?” But the girls made a promise to their dying father and they gradually begin to draw the truth out of their mother through the fairy tale she's been telling for years, but never finished it to the end. Alternating chapters tell her story of growing up in Russia and her experiences in Leningrad during the war. And what a heartbreaking story it is as her sweet fairy tale turns into a horrifying tale of what was endured during the siege of Leningrad. More than a set of facts from a history book, Hannah makes you feel and I was brought to tears more than once. I read this because it was said that it’s her best work but for me Nightingale is her best work it was way than this better in my opinion. It’s one of the best books i’ve even read i still can’t stop thinking about it and I don’t think i’ll ever stop 🥲💗Her solution? To re-frame the reflections of her senior protagonist, Anya, as a fairy tale she’s told her daughters over the years. Now grown, Meredith and Nina have never felt loved by their mother but remain fascinated by the Russian fairy tale she used to share with them as children. Their beloved father is now dying, and he urges Anya to tell the girls the real story…. all the way to the end. Perhaps if they hear it, they’ll finally understand their mom’s iciness, and why she spends hours in the cold sitting silently with her thoughts in her cherished winter garden. Every choice changed the road you were on and it was too easy to end up going in the wrong direction.” It’s possible that, for me, Hannah over-corrected in her rewrite, because I actually found the chapters about Meredith and Nina more interesting than their mother’s gradual fiction-into-fact revealing of her tragic experiences in the siege of Leningrad. I also found the ending to be a little too tightly wrapped in giant happily-ever-after bows of coincidence and catharsis, but readers who need cheerful conclusions may feel differently. Winter Garden tells the story of Meredith and Nina Whitson and their supposedly heartless mother Anya. For over an extended period we get to know of Anya while she faces tremendous obstacles and disaster, but ends surviving despite all her suffering. It's not a trivial novel; it's not romantic, it is almost an epic. It's repeatedly a struggle. I think it's written to be read on a sunny day, or it might be shattering. That is how I felt from the way it impacted me, as a mother and as a sister. Despite it all, I fully enjoyed it. Hannah tells a breathtaking story, I don't comment on it feebly. It is astonishing and heartbreaking. But in the end there is hope, so all is well after all!

The women in this book made me want to scream at how unemotional they where, and how they treated the good men around them.More like 2.5 stars. I listened to this on CD. The first half gets too bogged down in mundane details. There are too many chapters when we are told that Meredith goes for a run, Meredith sits on the porch with her coffee, Meredith feeds the dogs, Meredith treats her husband coldly, Meredith is frustrated and hurt by her mother. Yes, we get the point already. Meredith's life is mundane and not what she dreamed it would be. Get on with the story! Were there some weaknesses? Yes, but I’m so grateful for the quality of this novel, I’m willing to overlook them. By and far, this book blows anything and everything I’ve read this year, so far, completely out of the water. Parts of this story about two sisters and their Russian immigrant mother were very interesting. Sometimes I had to put it aside for a while because I couldn’t bear to read too much of the 1940s Leningrad stories at once. Some of the images, about a time I knew little about, were harrowing. It made me so thankful I have never lived through a world war and the tragedies that result. Other times I couldn’t bear to the book aside at all and had to keep reading but that was once I got further into the novel. Initially I wasn’t sure about it. The mother is a very cold and aloof person who seems to show no love to her daughters. I found her hard to relate to, until her story and past is revealed. Meredith and Nina also were hard to like. Meredith is a closed off sort of person, afraid to show emotion and Nina came across as selfish, with no regard for family. But circumstances contrive that the three women are left in a situation where they need to get to know each other.