Winter Garden in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jun 30, 2018 BookishStitcher rated it it was amazing

A heartbreakingly beautiful novel about mother daughter relationships, love, loss, and one man's dying wish. Anya is a mother who has always come across as cold and distant to her daughters, but when their father dies his last wish is for his wife to tell her children her dark Russian fairy tale all the way to it's completion. Sometimes fairy tales hold heartbreaking truths and hide dark pasts that haunt the teller with guilt for decades.

4.5 stars ...more

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Aug 25, 2019 Lindsey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, contemporary, eastern-europe, mom-s-lists

I read this straight through in one sitting. It was such an emotional story and I was literally sobbing at the end. Absolutely amazing. I wasn't expecting to get into the lives of what I thought was just another dysfunctional family but the story just got better and better as Nina and Meredith convinced their previously cold and impervious mother to continue her "fairy tale" story to the very end after the death of their dad. Very soon, the sisters realize that this story is real and their mothe ...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Megalion rated it it was amazing

Shelves: from-shelfari, year-read-2011

I wasn't really into it at first, kept putting it down, read several other books in between (including Stieg Larsson's amazing trilogy) but then I picked it back up and stayed with it and was rewarded with the unfolding of a really interesting story.

The premise is two sisters who are beloved of their Dad but their mother has been estranged emotionally from them their whole lives. Before he dies, he asks them to make an effort to get to know her and the book is basically the whole process of doi ...more

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May 16, 2018 Vickie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 3-star, 2018, family, traveling-with-opi, moldy-books, 2017-countdown, historical-ficton, trivial-pursuit, chick-lit, looking-back-on-2017

So many components were here for me: Russian history, family relationships, character named Anya (my daughter's name). However, something was missing and I can't figure it out. It took me until about 75% finished before I finally liked the story and then some plot elements were just too pat for me. Hannah did a wonderful job bringing me into Leningrad during WWII but, sadly, that was the only part that kept my attention. I will read more by this author, I normally enjoy her writing, just not thi ...more

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Jul 06, 2016 Jan rated it it was ok

Shelves: book-club-etc, zz-finished-in-2016

Almost a three...but not quite there for me. I think I'm done with Kristin Hannah. ...more

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Nov 15, 2013 Rachel C. rated it did not like it

I don't like abandoning books, but I just can't get into this one. I've attempted reading it twice and maybe its just that I always try to read it around Christmas and don't have time to get into it, but I think it's just that I don't end up really wanting to get into it even after reading half of the book. It's not the genre, this book is just not for me.

Abandoned: 01/02/2015 ...more

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