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Winter Garden
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
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Editor 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
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.
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
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- Susanna
- 27-12-11
Winter Garden
I chose this audibook after reading many good reviews about the novel. It tells the story about the relationship between two sisters and their mother who has always been very cold and distant to them. When the father (who was the strengh of the family) dies, following a promise that the 3 women made to him, the mother explains to her daughers the truth of her earlier life in Leningrad during the war. This story helps the daughters understand their mother better and changes completety their relationship. For me the story is an example of how important it is to talk about emotions and feelings to the people you love, and how misunderstandings can spoil relationships. I would recommend this book as I really enjoyed it.
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11 people found this helpful
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- "missdipsycalling"
- 12-04-18
phenominal
absolutely phenomenal storyline. it has me gripped from the start and I was in floods of tears at the end. can't rate this title high enough. amazing.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 19-07-20
Stick with it!
As others have said in reviews the beginning is a little slow and repetitive and must admit to nearly giving up. SO glad I didn’t though this book is well worth the listening time! The details of the Seige of Leningrad and the suffering it caused are harrowing and so sad .. the way the story pans out is well written and I enjoyed the unfolding.
Stick with it and you will not be disappointed but have your handkerchief ready!
My only gripe was the narration Irish accent .. made me cringe a bit!! However only a small part of an otherwise brilliant story
Highly recommend.. a great book for book clubs to read and discuss
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5 people found this helpful
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- Sarah Bland
- 25-04-21
Dammit she can write a good story
Never been disappointed with a Kristen Hannah novel. Always learn lots, and want them to go on longer. That's the whole point isn't it?
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4 people found this helpful
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- Rosie @ 36
- 07-08-20
A story within a story
At first, while listening to this, I did not like it as much as Kristin Hannah’s other books. It took until I was well into ‘the fairy story’ before I really began to get engrossed with the way it was told. As with The Nightingale and The Great Alone the story carried you along, you became close to the characters and each one had me in tears at the end. I was sorry to leave each family when it was over.
Kristin Hannah has a nice writing style and I like the way her characters evolve.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Lizzy
- 14-12-21
Boring
I live Kristen Hannah books but found this one really boring and slightly ridiculous- not for me.
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2 people found this helpful
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- AndreaK
- 27-04-19
Amazing description of the siege of Leningrad
I really enjoyed this book overall. The descriptions of family relations were very perceptive, though I got a bit bored by the repetition of these at about chapter 7/8. It is worth persevering though, as the later chapters are incredible, with their heart-breaking description of the siege of Leningrad. I cried a lot in those chapters. The coincidence that occurs towards the end of the story, when the family is in Alaska, is a bit hard to credit, but it makes a good story. It is a hard book to narrate, with the Russian accent and the Irish one. The former slipped from time to time but the latter was a travesty - it could have been many accents, but Irish was rarely detectable. That's why I have given the performance 3 stars. Kristin Hannah is an excellent storyteller.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lusi Elliot
- 18-08-21
Absorbing
This book for me took a while to get into, but I am so glad I persevered. The mix of present moment storyline with the two sisters lives with the drawing out of their mother's life story, to the resolution. I found the Russian history fascinating, the momentum of the book, the characters journey, all so well rounded, I just loved this book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 22-03-24
The heartbreaking story
Love that an American author shines light on Russian not much spoken of history. The tragedies of war is sadly not mentioned much in schools. Only the politics of war. The suffering and sacrifices is what we should be thought about.
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- Amazon Customer
- 13-03-24
The narrative voices were poignant
Beautiful historical fiction so sensitively and thoughtfully narrated. Heart wrenching and profound. A beautiful piece of writing.
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