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Winter Garden
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
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Editor reviews
In Kristin Hannah’s Winter Garden, we find three women a mother and two daughters by blood, but strangers in their hearts reeling from the loss of the man who held their fragile family together. Emptiness pervades this story hollowing out what is left of the Whitson family and creeping into the space between narrator Susan Erickson’s words.
Anya and her daughters Meredith and Nina have already lost their husband and father to death and risk losing each other to pride. Evan Whitson knew of this risk, and on his deathbed asked his wife to tell their daughters her “fairy tale” from start to finish. And so we find the Whitson women gathered in the dark at their family home, Belye Nochi, night after night.
Meredith is the older daughter who stayed home to take care of the family business, and her marriage is falling apart. Younger sister Nina, meanwhile, has traveled the globe as a renowned photographer, but refuses to marry the love of her life. Neither sister has much of a relationship with the other much less with their cold and distant mother, Anya, whose mysterious past in Russia haunts them all.
Erickson’s Anya is resolute, her Nina bold, and her Meredith lost. Effortlessly, it seems, Erickson captures in one moment the decades of sorrow in Anya’s voice and in the next the ready spirit in Nina’s. Always we hear the sheer exhaustion in Meredith’s. Erickson’s voice is at times empty and full, icy and warm, sharp and soft. Throughout the book all three women are alternately devastated with loss, isolated by bitterness, and joyous for the love of family, and Erickson lets us hear it all with her honest and gentle delivery.
Winter Garden is a story best listened to it is after all a testament to the power of storytelling. What Meredith and Nina hear in their mother’s story will cause them to face their grief head on and just might make them a family once again. Sarah Evans Hogeboom
Summary
Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn't know her mother?
From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes Kristin Hannah's powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past.
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time - and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya's life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother's life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.
Critic reviews
“It's a tearjerker, but the journey is as lovely - and haunting - as a snow filled winter's night.” --People Magazine
“This tearjerker weaves a convincing historical novel and contemporary family drama.” --Library Journal
“Readers will find it hard not to laugh a little and cry a little more as mother and daughters reach out to each other just in the nick of time.” --Publishers Weekly
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Diana Judd
- 01-01-22
Enjoyable story
I did find this story extremely well written and narrated. I would say that it was a little slow in setting the scene and at times I felt it could be a long haul. However, once into the core of the book, I wanted to keep listening and find out the outcome. I wasn't disappointed.
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- Emily bullock
- 07-08-23
Wonderful
Such a story of loss, forgiveness and hope
As always with her books so excellent but the story teller should not be overlooked she is amazing
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- Anya
- 22-02-22
Heart breaking and heart warming
This story felt depressing at times and took a while to find its centre but once it did it was both heartbreaking and heartwarming in its exploration of family finding a way through unimaginable heartbreaking history and how it affects us.
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- Rebecca Piek
- 04-02-22
Marvellous
I completely and utterly loved this book. I was engrossed and hooked whilst reading it.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-07-18
Not my favourite
Have read so many Kristen Hannah but this one was hard work to get into!!! Not sure I would recommend !!!!
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- Amazon Customer
- 13-04-20
Slow start - Good end
Very slow in the beginning.
Improved at the end.
Narration good.
Would rate it good.
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- Dr b L Abram
- 27-08-22
A story of love and loss and survival
Heartbreakingly beautiful story of a woman's strength and love for family and how she survived throughout the cruelest of times when everything around her was gone
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- spud
- 10-10-22
Beautiful crafted and compelling
This is a book I wish I’d written. A truly engaging story where the characters are artfully brought to life and where your left feeling thankful for the people you love. I wanted to clean more so I could keep listening and I hate cleaning!
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- Edel Victory
- 08-09-22
Well Worth the Listen!
What a beautifully written book and very well read. It kept me captivated throughout. My one criticism would have to be of the Irish accent. Nobody from Dublin speaks that way. In fact, almost nobody from Ireland speaks that way. Small criticism in an otherwise wonderful audible book.
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- Ksenia Safiullina
- 27-10-23
Very accurate and heartfelt story
Being Russian I’ve been hearing stories of Leningrad siege as a child many times so this book was very close to home, beautifully written and spoken. Thank you
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