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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 a 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.
Female bonding is always good for a good cry, as Hannah (True Colors ) proves in her latest. Pacific Northwest apple country provides a beautiful, chilly setting for this family drama ignited by the death of a loving father whose two daughters have grown apart from each other and from their acid-tongued, Russian-born mother. After assuming responsibility for the family business, 40-year-old empty-nester Meredith finds it difficult to carry out her father’s dying wish that she take care of her mother; Meredith’s troubled marriage, her troubled relationship with her mother and her mother’s increasingly troubled mind get in the way. Nina, Meredith’s younger sister, takes a break from her globe-trotting photojournalism career to return home to do her share for their mother. How these three women find each other and themselves with the help of vodka and a trip to Alaska competes for emotional attention with the story within a story of WWII Leningrad. 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. (Feb.)
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Martin West
reviewed Winter Garden on February 27, 2018 Winter Garden
One of the best books I've ever read. Period.
âœâœâœâœâœ
The five star rating that this book deserves - no, demands - makes me question all of my other books that I had given a five star rating. A five star rating should really be elusive, hard to achieve. But sometimes, when you are in the grip of a good book, you get a little fast and loose with your ratings. Well, I'm guilty of it from time to time. I am officially admitting that, "My Name is Crumb, and I'm a Five Star Rating Junkie." This book has made me realize that only the very best of books should be crowned with a five star rating, and this is one of them. Thus, moving forward, I am going to exercise much more discrimination when doling out my stars.
Nina and Meredith never had a mother they could count on or could talk to about boys. The only thing their mother was good for was telling them Russian fairy tales from her youth; Little did they know how important those fairy tales really were. Their father, however, was their hero. What they couldn't get from their mother, they got in spades from their father. When their father dies from heart problems, they are heartbroken. Nina's father makes a final proclamation as he lays dying: He wants Nina to convince her mother to tell the full fairy tale of "The Peasant Girl and The Prince." This fairy tale does more for their family than any of them could have ever expected. It will lead them on a journey of a lifetime..
This book is about dysfunction between family members and finding hope when it seems as if all hope is lost. Nina is a world-class photographer and is never in one place for too long. She was never the type to want a family or to settle down. When her father dies however, she comes back to be with her mother and Meredith. Meredith, took over the family business. When she first arrives, Meredith's life is in shambles. She is going through a difficult time at home. There is a distance between herself and her spouse that was never there before and when Nina comes home, it makes everything worse, amplified. The interactions between the sisters was so incredibly fascinating. As a reader, I could see how much they loved each other, but I could also see how much they wanted to change each other. They couldn't accept one another for who they each were as individuals. Nothing either of them did was ever right. And when it came to caring for their mother, forget it. Everything they did was completely wrong.
I found this novel to be both breathtaking and magnificent, yet exponentially heart-wrenching. It made me feel things I didn't even know I was capable of feeling. This book evoked such emotion in me, I didn't even realize I had tears streaming down my face. There are books that I read and I love.. and then there are those few, inimitable books that change me. That shake me to the core.
This was one of them.
Note: This was a traveling sisters read.. I loved reading it with all of you! For more traveling sisters reviews, please visit:
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