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Winter Garden

By: Kristin Hannah
Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
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Editorial reviews

in Kristin Hannah’s Winter Garden, we find three women - a mother and two daughters by blood, but strangers in their hearts - reeling from the loss of the man who held their fragile family together. Emptiness pervades this story - hollowing out what is left of the Whitson family and creeping into the space between narrator Susan Erickson’s words.

Anya and her daughters Meredith and Nina have already lost their husband and father to death - and risk losing each other to pride. Evan Whitson knew of this risk, and on his deathbed asked his wife to tell their daughters her “fairy tale” from start to finish. And so we find the Whitson women gathered in the dark at their family home, Belye Nochi, night after night.

Meredith is the older daughter who stayed home to take care of the family business, and her marriage is falling apart. Younger sister Nina, meanwhile, has traveled the globe as a renowned photographer, but refuses to marry the love of her life. Neither sister has much of a relationship with the other - much less with their cold and distant mother, Anya, whose mysterious past in Russia haunts them all.

Erickson’s Anya is resolute, her Nina bold, and her Meredith lost. Effortlessly, it seems, Erickson captures in one moment the decades of sorrow in Anya’s voice and in the next the ready spirit in Nina’s. Always we hear the sheer exhaustion in Meredith’s. Erickson’s voice is at times empty and full, icy and warm, sharp and soft. Throughout the book all three women are alternately devastated with loss, isolated by bitterness, and joyous for the love of family, and Erickson lets us hear it all with her honest and gentle delivery.

Winter Garden is a story best listened to - it is after all a testament to the power of storytelling. What Meredith and Nina hear in their mother’s story will cause them to face their grief head on and just might make them a family once again. --Sarah Evans Hogeboom

Publisher's Summary

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 Kristin Hannah's 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 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.

©2010 by Kristin Hannah. (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic Reviews

“It's a tearjerker, but the journey is as lovely - and haunting - as a snow filled winter's night.” --People Magazine

“This tearjerker weaves a convincing historical novel and contemporary family drama.” --Library Journal

“Readers will find it hard not to laugh a little and cry a little more as mother and daughters reach out to each other just in the nick of time.” --Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about Winter Garden

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A historical novel at its best!

Superbly written, thoroughly researched and masterfully performed; the account of an individual family, surviving the unimaginable horrors experienced by the inhabitants of the then Leningrad and its siege by the German Army (now St. Petersburg) during The Second World War, where 700,000 people are said to have starved to death, and a further 300,000 were killed in daily, nightly bombing raids! It also describes life in The Soviet Union, under the oppressive rule of Stalin.

This tragedy is the backdrop of a beautiful, lasting love between two people from very different backgrounds, torn asunder by the insanity of war. Anya, the main character, appears cold and aloof to her daughters but gradually, her story is revealed through the telling of a beautiful fairytale.

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Beautiful story, heartbreaking

The Irish accent was terrible, but that's my only criticism. The story was moving, heartbreaking, happy, hopeful. I loved the ending. And I had no idea about what happened in Leningrad.

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Insanely slow beginning melts into an absolutely magical story

I almost couldn’t persevere, but once the telling of the fairytale began, it really picked up in pace. After the Great Alone I wanted to visit Alaska, and now I’m dying to see Leningrad. Kristin Hannah is just the most incredible writer.

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Brilliant!

Kristin Hannah certainly knows how to tell a story. I enjoyed listening from start to finish. Have tissues handy 😭

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Great Story

really enjoyed this. Although is seemed slow to begin with it soon became a heart warming story

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Captivating & Heartbreaking

What a beautiful but painful story. I laughed and cried throughout but the very last chapter & epilogue had me bawling. Glad I was at home alone when I got to that stage of the book. I have read and listened to so many stories about what people went through during WW2 during my life but this is one from a perspective I hadn’t heard before.

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Beautiful story

I loved this book, well written with so much detail. It captures you and you feel part of the characters lives. It will stir up many emotions and you think of the story long aftet finishing it.

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The glittering white nights

Myths meet stark reality. The untold story emerges and the siege of Leningrad emerges from its darkest hour into the light. Part fantasy joins searingly harsh night and the death of a million . A story of hope and love emerging fro locked in suffering, finally liberated.

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Beautiful soul crushing story that you wouldn’t be able to put down.

Kristin Hannah’s best story about the siege of Leningrad. Beautifully written and brought many tears on my eyes whilst remembering what my grandparents fought in WWII.

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Oh my heart!

Absolutely loved this narrative. I was hooked til the end. The fairytale embedded within the central storyline was very clever.
Great characters. Very emotional
Moments that had me in tears.
Another superb novel by Kristin Hannah

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