Winter Garden - Kristin Hannah

Fiction

Rating: 8/10

Kristin Hannah doe’s a lot of things right when it comes to penning her novels, not the least of which is bringing together complex characters and exploring powerful, often heartbreaking themes.

She exquisitely tells stories of endurance and tragedy in ways that provide the reader a measured experience, rather than one that overwhelms.

This story follows two sisters, Meredith and Nina, who as adults are living vastly different lives.  One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family business; the other followed her dream, traveling the world as a photojournalist. When their father falls ill, they find themselves pulled together, all the more so when he makes a last request of them.  Persuade their cold and distant mother to retell the fairy tale she started when they were children one last time.  And this time, all the way to the end.

Alternating between the past and present, the sisters will finally hear the tale that turns out to be the harrowing story of their mother’s life.

The use of a mother struggling to connect telling her children a fairy tale to reveal herself and a lifetime of secrets to them is ingenious.

Make sure you have some tissues for this one!

Book Pairing(s):The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht, In A Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo