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White Gardenia

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White Gardenia

By: Belinda Alexandra
Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
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About this listen

 Beginning in a small village on the Chinese-Russian border in the final days of World War II, White Gardenia tells the story of a mother and daughter separated by war. In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for white Russian families since Russia's Communist revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to live. White Gardenia sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the harshness of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price of survival too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again?©2002 Belinda Alexandra (P)2003 Bolinda Publishing Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction China War Russia

Critic Reviews

"Deidre Rubenstein's well-modulated contralto voice brings empathy and compassion to Alexandra's first novel....Powerful dramatization." (AudioFile)
All stars
Most relevant
I loved this story and to find out how this tied into the authors family history is very special.

Very interesting story

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I did not like in spite of the truth that the barbarity and the evil treachery of Stalin’s regime was portrayed so explicitly.
Yet, even in my recoil from it, I believe it was necessary. All the characters were described vividly. I feel I would recognise them should I come across them?
What I loved most was the intense emotional portrayal of Anya, who-Hope against Hope was determined to embrace her mother once more. Relational love manifests in many forms in this book fierce friendships
Formed on the anvil of deprivation and hardship.
Also, the frailty of some characters like her husband who in spite of loving her chose an easier path. I feel like I have just read at least four books in a row, so diverse is this novel.
Belinda Alexandra is what I call a great author . This is the second novel I have read and look forward to reading more.
One word describes it…
Brilliant!
Jacqui.:)

Perseverance driven by Love and resilience.

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Enjoyable story, and captivating, and the narrator was fabulous. However, the music bursting randomly and suddenly throughout was just seriously awful. I could not even hear the authors notes at end, due to music coming over top of narrators voice. This really needs to be changed for a more enjoyable experience with this book!

Great story

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I enjoyed travelling along with Anya and the other characters in the White Gardenia and found it quite compelling on the whole. However I found Anya’s angst at times over dramatised and repetitive which distracted me from the story. I began to feel less sympathetic towards her character and by the end when sympathy was needed, less able to understand her choice to risk her child and husband lives. Having said this it was still a good read and “almost” great.

Almost

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