Winter Garden

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I think this is almost a tale of two stories as the first and second halves couldn't be more different. The first half of the book was dominated by family tension and each character’s own personal dilemmas.

Nina and Meredith are the daughters, Anya is the mother - - -and as someone said in an earlier review, I had the greatest urge to smack all three of them. So much of the personality quirks of each of the women is explained by delving into the dynamics of the family relationships. 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.I suspect that this author envisioned this being turned into a movie; otherwise why all the repetitious tangerine skies and striking blue eyes against white hair. 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. At other times, she seems to want to delve into the darker side of people's anger, insecurities, and general psyche. Excellent heartfelt story about the troubled dynamics of the mother/daughter bond and the relationship between two sisters. Frankly, I deal with enough anger in my daily life to desire having those same feelings when I read.

This is the second Kristin Hannah book I have read where I have actively DISLIKED the main characters throughout the first half of the book (the other was "True Colors").The pace of Winter Garden is slow initially, but in true Kristin Hannah form, I became invested in the story and couldn’t stop reading it. Meredith was always the steadfast and responsible one and Nina was the wild and free sister, but they were both strong, just in different ways.

Anya's story was spellbinding as well as educational since we get rare insights into Stalin's Leningrad before and during the German invasion. For some reason I have only read a few of her books, though I have several of them on my Kindle- if they are all as good as this one- I’ll be reading a lot more of Kristin Hannah- especially since older books are working out much better for me than the new releases- by far! If I had read this book a few years ago, I might have given it a four-star rating, but because I feel like a person dying of thirst in the middle of the desert who was just been given a long, refreshing drink of cool water- this book gets the full five stars! Some themes are close to me notably stories that deal with mothers and daughters or families in general. This is written in the past and present tense, which is a common format in many novels, but one that I enjoy.

Kristin Hannah sure does know how to pull heartstrings, even if sometimes they’re tugged a little too hard. There is a distance between herself and her spouse that was never there before and when Nina comes home, it makes everything worse, amplified. Wonderful story of the promise to a father to hear the story of mother's life that brings a family together in love and respect.