Winter Garden

Product Information

Truthfully, I found many of the characters to be cold and distant and wasn't really sure that I'd ever connect with them on an emotional level but I was intrigued enough by the story to keep reading. But when their beloved father falls ill, these two estranged women will find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. Anya shared an enviable connection with her husband; he adored her despite her frigid nature towards their daughters, but why? Meredith promised to take care of her mother- which may mean moving her to a care facility for her own safety. While I could understand both of their POVs at times, I also felt irritated by both of them at parts for their lack of communication and selfish, sometimes impulsive decisions.

Their mother, Anya, was an enigma, confounding everyone with her seemingly lack of feeling for her children and I kept thinking her children should just move on. Alternating chapters tell her story of growing up in Russia and her experiences in Leningrad during the war. Vera and Sasha: everything happened so fast for me she fall in love with him the first time they met? 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.

Naturally, her story can put one’s own struggles into perspective and is a horrible reminder of the sacrifices, and sufferings of a complicated war. By and far, this book blows anything and everything I’ve read this year, so far, completely out of the water. I even enjoyed the happy ending which I know I complained about but here it just felt like it flowed to that point naturally. There is a distance between herself and her spouse that was never there before and when Nina comes home, it makes everything worse, amplified. Someone I love recommended this book to me and I stuck it out for her, but I don't recommend it to you.

In between these two extremes, she weaves an absolutely fascinating story that nestles somewhere in the middle of the novel.For no discernible reason, the reader is constantly subjected to descriptions of what the characters are wearing, e.

The story about the Leningrad siege starts very late in the book (around 50%) and by that time I was already so tired, bored and annoyed that it failed to "touch" me like I "need" in the genre. With differing opinions on how to help their heart-broken mother, the sisters work to convince her to tell the full fairytale. Both Nina and Meredith have grown up into adults who are unable to have normal relationships with others. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night.

Nina is a world famous photographer who runs away from family and commitment by flying off to the latest war/famine/disaster. If you're also intrigued by it, then you should definitely read this book for SURE and as soon as possible. Hannah uses the characters of Vera, Sasha and their children to bring that horror and pain to life, and to illuminate the reasons for the cold reserve adopted by the mother toward Nina and Meredith. So much of the personality quirks of each of the women is explained by delving into the dynamics of the family relationships. The story has so much depth to it and the author successfully transports the reader to both Leningrad and Alaska in a way I never expected.

Kristin Hannah sure does know how to pull heartstrings, even if sometimes they’re tugged a little too hard.

As she goes about packing up her mother’s things, Nina coaxes Anya to tell her story, a story, which despite her resentments, Meredith eavesdrops on, suddenly finding herself enthralled by it. Kristen is a brilliant story teller, she masterfully draws you in with her vivid description of the surroundings and her characters, you feel like you are there experiencing all the ups and downs.