Dear Bookworms,
“Her name is Vera and she is a poor peasant girl.” So begins the fairytale that Anya Whitson weaves for her daughters. It is about how Vera meets her prince and falls in love despite the hardships and obstacles of living in the Snow Kingdom under the rule of the Black Knight. That’s the point of it – a love story. At least that’s what the girls think when, at the request of their father, she begins to tell the fairytale again after so many years. Soon, however, it becomes clear that this tale is more than a simple love story, that it is somehow significant to their mother, a woman neither of them really knows.
Winter Garden is a story about family, about mothers and daughters and the way they relate to one another. Kristin Hannah’s lyrical storytelling ability weaves a tale that draws you in and keeps you invested by the complex and realistic way she portrays the women in her tale. Perhaps my favorite aspect to this novel was the way Hannah draws three such distinct characters in Anya, Meredith and Nina Whitson but still manages to demonstrate the unshakable bond that tethers family together no matter how different they are.
The fairytale, which is told in segments throughout the primary story, punctuates the rest beautifully, for while the poetic language used for the tale reads so differently from the mainstream of the novel, it reflects the basic truths about human experience that each sister is trying to discern for herself. And, ultimately, is this not the reason we resonate with stories in the first place? To discover the truths which illuminate our own experience? In this way, Winter Garden has much to offer.
At once captivating and challenging, this books brings a portion of history to light that is not often remembered. Winter Garden is to Russia what the recent best seller The Book Thief is to Germany, and is just as worthwhile a journey.
Keep reading!
Live, Love, Learn
Elise and The Write Teacher(s)