Winter Garden, Kristen Hannah - 4 Star Review
July 2013
I believe that I have read all but one of Kristin Hannah's books, and more than any other, this complex story tore at all my emotions, and took me to places no other Kristin Hannah novel has.
Beginning at the end, there is a portion titled, "In Her Own Words" where the author discusses the organic nature of story telling and how some of the paths this book went down, even she didn't know she would travel. I love that she allowed her characters to come to life so fully that they drove the storyline, and not the other way around.
In this same section, Ms. Hannah remarks that she loves strong female characters, as evident in all her books. There can not be any greater testimony to the courage, strength, and endurance of a woman, and a mothers love, than the women who survived the 900 Day Siege of Leningrad during WWII.
Winter Garden begins in the apple orchards of central Washington, pulling us into the distant and curious relationship between Anya Whitson and her adult daughters, Meredith and Nina. The daughters have been raised in an environment where there is an absolute certainty of their fathers love for them and the same certainty that their mother barely acknowledges their existence. Protecting themselves from this sadness, the daughters of Evan and Anya Whitson evolve into women who search for acceptance outside themselves.
A deathbed promise requires Anya to complete the telling of a fairy tale that she first tells her daughters when they are quite young. Nina, the youngest daughter, is a fearless photo journalist, through persistence, forces Anya to tell the tale of distant lands of another era. Anya eventually agrees, but will only speak at night and in the dark. Though Meredith remains emotionally distant from the two, she creates excuses so that she can overhear the tale. As Black Dragon's evolve into Black Van's and Princes lose their gilding, the two women quickly discern that the story being told holds the key to Anya's disregard.
Other than a book such as The Diary of Anne Frank, I don't remember feeling quite as emotionally pulled into the frightening world of war and the cruelty that the afflicted must suffer. Kristin Hannah must be recognized for her research efforts and her skill at writing pictures and words which engulf us, cause us to mourn, feel hopeful, and wonder alongside her why the book ends the way it does.
A must read!
Beginning at the end, there is a portion titled, "In Her Own Words" where the author discusses the organic nature of story telling and how some of the paths this book went down, even she didn't know she would travel. I love that she allowed her characters to come to life so fully that they drove the storyline, and not the other way around.
In this same section, Ms. Hannah remarks that she loves strong female characters, as evident in all her books. There can not be any greater testimony to the courage, strength, and endurance of a woman, and a mothers love, than the women who survived the 900 Day Siege of Leningrad during WWII.
Winter Garden begins in the apple orchards of central Washington, pulling us into the distant and curious relationship between Anya Whitson and her adult daughters, Meredith and Nina. The daughters have been raised in an environment where there is an absolute certainty of their fathers love for them and the same certainty that their mother barely acknowledges their existence. Protecting themselves from this sadness, the daughters of Evan and Anya Whitson evolve into women who search for acceptance outside themselves.
A deathbed promise requires Anya to complete the telling of a fairy tale that she first tells her daughters when they are quite young. Nina, the youngest daughter, is a fearless photo journalist, through persistence, forces Anya to tell the tale of distant lands of another era. Anya eventually agrees, but will only speak at night and in the dark. Though Meredith remains emotionally distant from the two, she creates excuses so that she can overhear the tale. As Black Dragon's evolve into Black Van's and Princes lose their gilding, the two women quickly discern that the story being told holds the key to Anya's disregard.
Other than a book such as The Diary of Anne Frank, I don't remember feeling quite as emotionally pulled into the frightening world of war and the cruelty that the afflicted must suffer. Kristin Hannah must be recognized for her research efforts and her skill at writing pictures and words which engulf us, cause us to mourn, feel hopeful, and wonder alongside her why the book ends the way it does.
A must read!
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