Review for "Winter Garden" by Kristin Hannah

I am at the auto body shop and I have to stop to contain myself. I wipe the beginnings of tears from the corners of my eyes and take a deep breath. I am on page 326 and I'm about to cry amidst the smells of gasoline and oil. "Control yourself", I think. Yet...I continue on... I can't stop reading. The universal theme of loss of loved ones hits me like a ton of bricks. I cannot help but be affected by this story, one of motherhood, loss, guilt and grief. I am getting closer to the end of the "fairy tale" within the tale, and I find myself at odds....I want to know the ending, but I dread the knowledge of a terrible event that must be revealed.

Meredith and Nina are sisters, yet not very close ones any more. They lead very different lives, yet they share one thing...a need, a need to be comforted and loved by their seemingly cold-hearted mother. These sisters tried not to care that their own mother never looked at them and barely spoke to them. Nina makes a promise to her dying father to listen to her mother's "fairy tale" one last time, yet this time, she must hear it to the end. Little do these three women know that the telling of this tale will force them to reexamine their lives and thus change them forever.

This is one of those books that will stay with me long after I have turned the last page and cried my last tear. The author, Kristin Hannah, has done a marvelous job of moving between the past and present, from an apple orchard in Washington State to war torn Russia and finally to modern day Alaska. The way she interweaves the daughters' personal struggles with the mother's telling of her past in Leningrad is well done. She tackles many themes in this wonderfully written book....the ravages of war, the strength of women, the pain endured by mothers, forgiveness and healing. After reading this book, the reader learns how one's past affects one's future. As Kristen Hannah says, it all began with a sentence: "Sometimes, when you open the door to your mother's past, you find your own future." I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy books that are "part epic love story, part family drama, part historical novel". However, be warned...have a box of Kleenex nearby!