Issiz Kar Taneleri

by Kimberley Freeman

In Cold War Leningrad, Sofi and her cousins Natalia and Lena hope for a different life for themselves. Their dreams of the West – of fame, wealth and beautiful things – sustain them through creeping poverty, the long shivering winters and the loss of their fathers. When the fall of the Soviet Union brings them new opportunities, the three girls decide that they will stop at nothing to make their dreams come true.

Each woman grasps at a new life in Europe and, for a while, it seems fortune has smiled on them. But gradually, things unravel as reality fails to live up to their teenage dreams.

Sofi’s life in a small village in rural France is idyllic, but her husband is remote and cool. Natalia shines on the red carpets and at the fashion shows of London, but her success is precariously reliant on another’s whims. Lena has two beautiful children and a loving husband, but in her mind her sister casts too long a shadow, and she becomes obsessed with the past.

Dissatisfactions prompt jealousies, rivalries and betrayals. As their relationships splinter, none of them is aware of a dark figure from their Russian years, and the bad luck that still lies in wait for them…

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook

696 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Pen name of Kim Wilkins.


Kimberley was born in London and her family moved back to Australia when she was three years old. She grew up in Queensland where she currently lives.

Kimberley has written for as long as she can remember and she is proud to write in many genres. She is an award-winning writer in children’s, historical and speculative fiction under her birth name Kim Wilkins. She adopted the pen name Kimberley Freeman for her commercial women’s fiction novels Duet and Gold Dust to honour her maternal grandmother and to try and capture the spirit of the page-turning novels she has always loved to read. Kim has an Honours degree, a Masters degree and a PhD from The University of Queensland where she is also a lecturer. She lives in Brisbane with her young family.

Reviews

[JudiAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kimberly Freeman usually writes her novels about Australia but this time her story is about three Russian girls who live in Leningrad. Natalia and Lena are sisters and Sofi, who is their cousin are desperate to leave Russia during the Cold War. Their lies and crimes finally take them to America and as they grow into adults, resentments from the past begin to destroy their relationships. As the story unfolds they eventually try to repair the unbroken bond that surrounded them before they left Russia.

I usually love Kimberley Freeman’s books but this one just didn’t do it for me. Although I read it to the end it seemed a long tangled tale with characters that I couldn’t relate to. Sadly, I could only give this book, that I waited for, 3 stars.

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

A splendid and engaging tale!

The audiobook was amazing. Jennifer Vuletic’s narration is excellent, comfortably giving each character their own individual voices.

[HÜLYA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okurken bu kitabi baska yazar yazmis hissinden hic kurtulamadim.
Uc kuzen Rus genc kizin Sovyet Birliği yikilirken ulkenin yoksullugundan bunalip baslarinin caresine degisik bir yonden bakmaya calismalari..Secimlerinin sonuclari yasamalari...
Yazar karakterleri yaratirken biraz zorlanmis o cok belli...Natalya,Lena ve Sofi.İki kizkardes olan Natalya ve Sofi cok farkli karakterde iki genc kiz...İclerinde en akli basinda ve zeki olani Sofi..Takimin beyni Sofi..
Yasamlarinda yeni sayfa acmak icin cok yanlis bir yola basvururlar...Bir Amerikaliyi dolandirirlar...Bunun sonuclari olduca agir olacaktir...
Yazarin diger kitaplarina gore biraz vasatti...Verdigim dört puan3,5 uzerinden... Biraz fazla uzatilmis zorlanmis idi...

[Tiffany www.instagram.com/tiffs_bookshelf]

Lovely story of sisters

This is an amazing story of three russian sisters who have big dreams to get them out of Russia. This story warmed my heart to follow the tale of these sisters, thrir triumphs, their struggles, their heart aches, and finally their happiness. Anxiously awaiting Kimberley Freeman's next novel

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF... I tried... I got through about 35% but I really didn’t like the characters very much and found the story to be too slow. I love all of the other books written by Kimberly Freeman. I’ve only got Duet left to read.

[ofluyorumcu Elif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kalemini çok sevdiğim bir yazardan, yine beni esir eden bir kitap okudum. Çok güzeldi 😍 700 sayfa ama merakla okudum hep. İşlerim yoğun olsada her fırsatta elime aldım çünkü aklım, kitaptaki 3 kadının hayatlarındaydı . 3 küçük kızdan, 3 yetişkin kadın olma yolunda yaşadıkları inişler çıkışlar, yalanlar,ihanetler , dostlukları , başarıları ve başarısızlıkları... Dolu dolu bir kitaptı 👍🏻
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Bahsettiğim 3 kadından ikisi kardeş , biri ise kuzenleri. İki kız kardeş olan Natalya ile Lena, küçüklüklerinde babaları tarafından amcalarının evine terkedilir. Kuzenleri Sofi ile birlikte büyürler. Sonrasında 3 genç kadın olarak kurdukları yurtdışı hayallerini gerçekleştirmek için sıradışı bir girişimde bulunurlar. Burdan elde ettikleri bir miktar para ile Rusya’yı terk edip Londra’ya giderler. Natalya ve kardeşi Lena ünlü bir oyuncu olmak isterken, kuzenleri Sofi’nin hayali ise ünlü bir takı tasarımcı olmaktır. Kısıtlı bütçeleriyle hayallerini gerçekleştirmek için çabalarlarken bir yerde ayrılmak zorunda kalırlar, fakat birbirlerine bir sözleri vardır. Ne olursa olsun her yıl Noel’den sonra “Yıllık Kış Buluşması” yapacaklardır.
.
Kitabın ilk giriş kısmı , kitabın sonundan küçük bir ayrıntı içeriyor. Kış buluşmalarının birinde içlerinden biri, bir diğerini öldürme planı yapıyor. İşte merakla kitabın sonunda bunların kim ve neden olduğunu merak etmekle geçti. Bunun dışında üçünün her yıl yaşadıkları , hayalleri için yaptıkları, başlarına gelenleri okumak, yeri geldi üzdü, yeri geldi mutlu etti. Üçüne de kızdığım çok şey vardı ama yinede başta okuduğum o sonun yaşanmasını hiç istemedim. Peki o sonda neler yaşandı? Okuyup öğreniyoruz 🙃

[Muge · Rating 5 out of 5]

694 sayfalık kitabı 3 günde bitirdim diyeyim, siz akıcılığını tahmin edin.
Sofi, kuzenleri Natalia ve Lena; geleceği belirsiz Sovyetler Birliği'nde doğan üç küçük kız... Üçünün de gelecek için hayalleri, kurmak istediği farklı hayatları vardır. Birbirlerine destek olmaktan hiç vazgeçmeyeceklerine söz veren bu üç küçük kız, ilerleyen yıllarda Rusya-Ingiltere-Fransa üçgeninde karşılaşacakları sürprizler karşısında da verdikleri sözü tutabilecekler mi?
Okuduğum kimi yorumda kitabın gereksiz uzun olduğu yazıyordu. Açıkçası ben her satırını büyük bir heyecanla, kitabı elimden hiç bırakmak istemeden okudum. Hatta anlatımı o kadar güzeldi ki, adeta bir film izler gibi okudum kitabı. Velhasıl okuduğum bu kitaptan ben oldukça keyif aldım. Freeman severlere tavsiyemdir

[Rita Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book by Australian author, Kimberley Freeman.

Two sisters and a cousin, born in Russia, have dreams of leaving their poverty behind and moving to America. Between them they hatch a plan to make enough money to leave Russia, a plan which will haunt them for the rest of their lives. As they experience life’s ups and downs they can’t help wondering if their past is responsible for the disasters which befall them. An emotional and moving story of the very different lives of three women, their men and their changing relationship with each other, which culminates in a plan to commit murder.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and easy read....Story has some twists and turns and that's what keeps you reading...Anyone who is looking for this book ? ....Amazon doesn't have it on Kindle...so just download nook app and get it from Barns and Noble...they have it for less than 11 $.Overall I love reading books by this author and this one is no exception...another great story...can't wait for the next one !

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rich saga with characters you'll remember for a long time.
I enjoyed Gold Dust.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love Kimberley's novels. But, I've read them all now. Looking forward to reading more when she writes them.

[JudiAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow!

[Susan Liliales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook review

First: I didn’t finish it.

After listening to Lighthouse Bay and Amber Island I gave this book/audiobook a go, but somehow I couldn’t really connect to the story.
3 russian girls, 2 sisters and their cousin trying to escape the iron curtain. As a former citizen of the GDR I could relate to that. Probably more than other people coming across this book.
So the story really starts of after the childhood of the girls with the quite interesting and well known SCAM of Russian mail order brides. But than the story grows apart like the girls and splits into 3 storys and that’s when I lost connection. I’m okay with 2 storylines in different times, but 3 next to each other was quite irritating since I never really knew who is who of the girls 🤪
I probably somehow was expecting something alike to the other 2 books I had read/listen to before.

[Claire Louisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, so I listened to the audio of this book, which I never enjoy as much as reading a book myself, but I'm not sure I'd have read the whole book if I had been reading it myself, as it was, I wanted to give up on it several times, but felt I'd spent so many hours listening to it, that I just had to see how it all ended. Natalia, Sofi and Lena are the three main characters, I didn't much like Natalia at all and alternated between liking the other two throughout. A story of trying to follow your dreams despite the odds, these characters run into all sorts of dramas along the way. It was an OK story, I felt one of the story lines in the ending was pretty far fetched, which had me tuning out slightly.

[Josefina Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yazarin diger okudugum eserleri kadar iyi degildi. Zaten sadece bu yazar degil genelde Amerikali yada Rus olmayan baska ulke yazarlari , Rusya temali romanlarda cuvalliyorlar. Rus klasiklerine hayran biri olarak bence rus kulturu ile ilgili ruslarla ilgili romanlari oranin yazarlarina biraksinlar. Yada dogru durust inceleme yapsinlar da öyle yazilsin bu romanlar. Hep klise rus mafyali yada natasa temali kitaplar. Bu kitabi seven olmustur mutlaka bende begendim ama daha iyi olabilecek bir kitabi cope atmis gibi olmus. Tabiki yazardan olmayabilir hata eger ceviren kendi kafasina göre yazdiysa.

[Caryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I expected. 4.5 of 5.0 stars.

I have read or listened to audio of all Kimberley Freeman's novels - I liked this one the best. It is different from her others be4cause it didn't take place in Australia. It was an easy read because even though it spans several decade the characters were the same from beginning to end and I didn't have to keep track of so many characters. I like that each of the 3 women central to the story were equally developed and likeable or unlikeable to the same degree. It was an enjoyable read and I look forward to the next one by this author.

[Colbi Eads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love this author and this was a really good book. Not what I expected based on the other books I’ve read by her. This is definitely not as much of a feel-good / romantic book as some of her others but great psychological description and complex characters. Slight thriller vibes. I’m happy I read it but 3 stars vs 4 because it’s not one I think is easy to recommend to others. Also took a while to get into it. If I didn’t already live the author I might have switched to something else

[Ilkay · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ne yaşatırsan onu yaşarsın" temasını çok iyi işleyen, ve "Kalbinde iyilik olanın her ne kadar zorluk yaşarsa yaşasın er ya da geç mutluluğu bulacağı" mesajını çok iyi veren ve son olarak - Kendinizi dünyanın en çaresiz insanı hissetseniz de bir gün kendiniz için 'Ben dünyanın en şanslı insanıyım' bile diyebileceğiniz kadar umut barındıran bir dünyada yaşıyor olduğumuz gerçeğini- çok güzel şekilde anlatan bir kitap okuduğum için çok mutluyum... Harika bir kitaptı...

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and the overall theme that you need to be grateful for what you do have rather than wanting what everyone else has. But I did have a couple of problems with it. The character development was a little shallow. And the ending of the book was a little too rushed and too neat and tidy.

[Nova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three Russian girls dream of a better life in the era of Russian mail-order brides. Most of the book was Ok but the ending was terrible imho. The story was full of the girls' personal issues and trying to fulfil their dreams and suddenly a villain turns up and in about 2 pages everything is sorted! Really!

[Meltem Özgün · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yazarın Kır Çiçeği Tepesi kitabı zaten favorimdi ama bu kitap şuan önüne geçti diyebilirim. Sarah Jio’nunki gibi geçmişe gitmek yok,dolambaç va doğa üstü olaylar yok. Gayet akıcı ve ilerleyici bir kitap. Kesinlikle tavsiye ediyorum.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was my least favourite of Freeman’s work. Plot seemed less interesting and rather depressing. The Characters were lovable but then they would change your mind and they didn’t appeal anymore. It is a read I would suggest people skip.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was a mess, but because I wanted to see how it all played out, I gave it 2 stars, instead of 1...

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely entertaining, there wasn't a page that I found boring.
Kimberley Freeman is becoming one of my favourite writers.

[Msaresaritunc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Farklı kişinin hayatlarını, mücadeleleri çok iyi bir şekilde aktarılmış fakat zamanlamalar azıcık problemli gibi 🤔😊

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Family Drama

Great family drama following the turbulent lives of two sisters and one cousin from bleak Soviet Russia to England and France.

[Sam Conry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve read most of Kimberleys novels and loved them. This one I didn’t enjoy. The story was depressing and contrived. Kimberley Freeman fans please don’t waste your time on this one.

[Kübra Ataay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beklentimin üzerinde bir romandı. Gereksiz uzun olduğunu düşünsem de sonuna kadar merak uyandırmayı başaran tipik çok satanlardan.

[kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

fazla uzundu bir zamandan sonra cok baydi

[Josie Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept you intrigued. Was a great book to listen to. Especially while I cooked and cleaned.. and the long drives..