Book Club Friday: Winter Garden

Winter Garden

By: Kristin Hannah

Pages: 391

Read: 5/1/14

"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."

{GoodReads}

Throughout the first half of the book, I really thought I was going to be disappointed in this book.  The first half is pretty slow and I was getting frustrated.  However, once Anya starts telling her "fairytale" the book picked up and I couldn't put it down.  I think I experienced every emotion possible while reading this story.  I also learned a lot about Leningrad - I even did some extra research.  By the end of the book I was bawling.  It's such an emotional story and it really hits the reader hard and everything from the beginning of the book starts coming together.  I highly, highly recommend this book!  Just, wow!

I gave this book a 5/5 on my GoodReads.