Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother? From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children …
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.
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I love anything by this author.
I could feel the cold when Hannah wrote about the terrible winters in Russia during wartime.
After the first third of the book, I couldn’t put it down. Touching story of a mother’s love in many incarnations.
Held my attention. Real page turner.
An absolutely amazing story that will have you enthralled untill the every end.
I thought the inner story about the experiences of the Russian mother was extremely interesting but the current day story based on the daughters and their relationship to their mother was awkward and uninteresting.
This book began my interest in World War II with a combination of dramatization of people’s lives and a strong sense of History. We forget today how important World War II was to the people who lived through it and to the generations after. I was totally unaware of the German advancement to Leningrad and the ramifications that would come from …
This book is haunting and beautiful. It was also very informative. I learned much about Russia during the Stalin years.
I am an avid reader. Winter Garden is one of the best historic novels I have ever read.
I’ve read this twice, and loved it both times! Great history lesson of WWII from a Russian perspective.