Winter Garden

This is a story of a mother and her two daughters, the strained relationship among all of them, and how they learn about themselves.

It starts a bit slowly.  The two daughters are Meredith and Nina, Anya is the mother and their father is Evan, who holds the family together. Mother Anya is cold, withdrawn, and has never shown either girl any affection whatsoever.  The only relationship she has with the girls is to tell them "fairy tales" at night when they were young, something they loved.  As a result of their mother's inattention, the girls have grown up unable to have any sort of normal relationship with others.

When Evan dies, the family is thrown into turmoil.  Meredith's marriage, which has started to fail, begins to fall apart as her husband leaves her when she feels she needs to spend most of her  time taking care of her mother.  Nina, who is a professional photographer, comes home, also to care for Anya, and leaves the man she loves because she is unable to respond to his marriage proposal.

Nina begins to get Anya to speak and over the weeks, Anya continues to tell her fairy tales...the whole fairy tale, which she has never told.  As Anya tells her story, the book becomes much more interesting, as you begin to realize that the "tales" aren't fairy tales at all,  but are the story of Anya's life, living through the siege of Leningrad.  The story is harrowing and heartbreaking and will have readers crying at several points.

The ending, which I won't even hint at, is amazing.  Definitely a 5 star read.

Favorite Quote:
“To lose love is a terrible thing. But to turn away from it is unbearable. Will you spend the rest of your life replaying it in your head? Wondering if you walked away too soon or too easily? Or if you'll ever love anyone that deeply again?"

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