Winter Garden

Product Information

Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya's life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago.

I read Winter Garden in our Traveling Sisters reading good and made for a great discussion. It is a well-layered, intriguing and powerful family saga that explores the complicated relationships between a mother and her daughters and the two sisters. The story is told from the past through a fairy tale told by distant, cold and interesting Anya who is layered with mystery and the present as we see how the fairy tale begins to bond these women together. With differing opinions on how to help their heart-broken mother, the sisters work to convince her to tell the full fairytale. We soon find out that the fairytale is a real story about the hardships of life in Leningrad during WWII. Their mother, Anya, begins to soften by opening up. She releases her guilt and forgives herself for the impossible choices she had to make in her past. By sharing, she shines a light on the loss and starts to heal her wounds.Once again, I find myself in awe of the power and beauty of Kristin Hannah’s words. She gives her readers the ability to crawl inside the story and see the world through the eyes of her characters. It’s her stunning gift for capturing the heart wrenching and emotional aspect of every connection that left me completely enamored with this family. Every single one of them. By the time I reached the end of the story, I was nowhere near ready to let them go. Nina and Meredith never had a mother they could count on or could talk to about boys. The only thing their mother was good for was telling them Russian fairy tales from her youth; Little did they know how important those fairy tales really were. Their father, however, was their hero. What they couldn't get from their mother, they got in spades from their father. When their father dies from heart problems, they are heartbroken. Nina's father makes a final proclamation as he lays dying: He wants Nina to convince her mother to tell the full fairy tale of "The Peasant Girl and The Prince." This fairy tale does more for their family than any of them could have ever expected. It will lead them on a journey of a lifetime..

This isn't just one of my favorite books of the year, it's one of my favorite books of all-time. I know for a certainty that no matter how many books I read, this will always remain precious to me. It has beautiful writing, a breathtaking story, and a powerful ending -- the true sign of a fantastic novel.Three and a half stars. Hard to write a review about this one as I had a few different thoughts. But here goes. Kristin Hannah cleverly and skillfully weaves an emotional fairy tale into the storyline that becomes the core of this story and we begin to see how it shaped the relationship between Anya and her daughters. I was drawn into the story through the fairy tale and it became a favourite part of the story for some of us. The imagery in the tale came to life for me and became very real. I felt many emotions as my heart broke for the characters. Through the fairy tale, I came to know who the characters are. Brilliant! 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.