Book Review: Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Sometimes when you open the door to your mother’s past, you find your own future…

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, these two estranged women will find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. On his deathbed, their father extracts one last promise from the women in his life.

It begins with a story that is unlike anything the sisters have heard before—a captivating, mysterious love story that spans sixty-five years and moves from frozen, war torn Leningrad to modern-day Alaska. The vividly imagined tale brings these three women together in a way that none could have expected. Meredith and Nina will finally learn the secret of their mother’s past and uncover a truth so terrible it will shake the foundation of their family and change who they think they are. (source)

There may be spoilers in this review. Read on if you'd like; you've been fairly warned.

I read this book initially for the European Reading Challenge 2016, but I don't think it really fits the criteria. I'll have to make sure of it at some point. I was about 1/3 of the way through when I made myself accept the fact. (I decided it works for this challenge as majority of the story within a story is set in Russia.) The story line is what attracted me: a Russian fairy tale that is told by a very cold mother to her children. I guessed that the fairy tale was about the mother but knowing that bit didn't spoil it.

The synopsis above gives the gist of the book. The details however are what make up the bulk of the book. I'll state right at the start that this is an adult book- not YA, definitely not teens- there are very adult themes in this book- references to se* (thank goodness it was just a mention generally. If there was more I wouldn't know because as soon as I suspected it was coming up, I skipped to a safe passage. I didn't miss anything by doing that), much drinking, and cussing. I'm not fond of cussing, no matter the story-line, or how good the writing. Actually the better the writing, more often than not, the less cussing in a book. However, this is set in modern times and many will tell you that's how people are. Disagree all I like, it is the prevalent line of thinking.

So who are the characters? The main characters are Anya, the cold mother; Evan, her enduring and ever-faithfully loving husband; Meredith, the oldest daughter of Evan and Anya; Nina, the younger daughter; Jeff, Meredith's husband and pretty much life-long friend; Sasha, the fairy tale prince; Vera, the peasant girl in the fairy tale smitten with the prince. Other characters are of course part of the story and help it flow but I don't really even remember the names. Meredith and Jeff have two daughters- Madison and Jillian- but we don't really see them much.

The setting is actually in Washington, on an apple farm. Since I thought it was set in Russia, this surprised me. The opening lines reads: "On the banks of the mighty Columbia River, in this icy season when every breath becomes visible, the orchard called Belye Nochi was quiet." Columbia River? I thought. The Columbia River that I know? Sure enough it was. Since our family is from Oregon, the fact that the book was actually set in Washington and not in Russia was a little bit of a consolation. And partially why I decided to finish the book. Partially.

The book has flashbacks of Meredith of when she was growing up and the difficult time she, and her sister Nina, had with their seemingly unloving mother. Well, 'seemingly' isn't the right word. She was unloving. As much as possible, without actually physically harming the children, she said and acted in ways that would suggest she did not love her children. 

But one flashback that is central is the fairy tale their mother told them at night, in the dark, before bed. It was a Russian fairy tale. Listening to the story is the only time the girls feel a connection with their mother. Really the only thing holding them all together as a family is their father, Evan. 

Reading through the book, I honestly thought that I would find that they weren't her children at all but someone else's. That's how uncaring the mother's actions were portrayed. 

The father, Evan, unfortunately dies early in the book. He exacts a promise from each of the women in his life. His wife, Anya, has promised to tell the fairy tale to the very end. Meredith has promised to take care of Anya. Nina has promised to make the other two stick to their promises. That last one isn't exactly what the promise is, but what it boils down to. 

So the fairy tale starts by telling about Vera, a fifteen year old peasant girl in the Snow Kingdom (that'd be Russia). When the girls (Meredith and Nina) are young, up to about 12 and 9 or so, the fairy tale was full of mystery. The words I gather were meant to create a 'fairy tale' atmosphere in their minds. But when they are much older (Meredith is about 40; Nina'd be 37 or so), some details that were omitted are included. Details like the mother of Vera smoking and other parts of the tale, such as Sasha meeting Vera's mother, and people dying. 

It's when these are included that the younger of the sisters, Nina, starts to dig around in history to find that the bridge prominent in the tale is a real bridge in Russia, and an actual famous Russian ballerina was mentioned in the story. Meredith is stubborn and after a lifetime of refusing to listen to the story, she is hesitant to accept this is a story of a real past. 

Through the 'real life' stresses of each Meredith and Nina, we are given scenes of bitterness, denial, and much accusation. There are details in those scenes that I skipped completely because of the nature of them (cussing, inappropriate depictions). If one were to read them they might say they were real-to-life. I don't know. The interactions between the characters felt strange to me. Perhaps I don't get out enough.

Nina was driven by pride, plain and simple. It may stem from a life of rejection from her mother, although she is accepted completely by her father. She felt her images would capture the world and put her name in the spotlight. She refused to let her feelings have a place and yet was really quick to judge the injustices of others (especially her sister). With her profession of photographing extreme situations, she could see the plight of every person or thing. But take the camera away, she couldn't see the forest for the trees. (Or something like that.) She was oblivious.

Meredith was also driven but hers was a desire to make sure everyone else was happy or at least appeared to be so. This also stems from the rejection of her mother. She had two daughters that she made her life, even when they went away to college. I am reminded of the term helicopter parent but am not sure if that really sums up her character. She is married to her best friend really but in the course of trying to please every one she's managed to completely alienate him. She cleans all the time. Meredith refuses to let her feelings crop up either. 

Anya... by the end of the book maybe I understood some of her character but not really. I cannot imagine it the way it was portrayed. By the end of the book she is loving. You can't really go a life being hard to have it melt away in a short time. Perhaps I have the timing wrong for the book but it felt much too rushed, her transformation. I also do not know any Russian women but from those who do, I understand they do things in a much different way. Perhaps this is accurate...

There are other characters that I'm actually going to leave as a surprise because it was a surprise I rather appreciated in the book. 

Overall, the fairy tale story is what kept me reading. If not for the way it was written and the realism of it, I probably would not have finished. I honestly could not feel connected to either Meredith, Nina, or Anya. But Vera... yes, Vera I connected with. Her sorrow becomes the readers' sorrow. Her joy, our joy. Her helplessness and desperation, our joy and desperation. The other characters, not that they were shallowly developed, were just not in line with what I could connect with.

The ending I didn't care for but after thinking on it more, it's more like what life would really throw at someone. It's not a happily ever after book in the normal sense. In the end Anya, Meredith, and Nina are happy. 

I read this book, and reviewed it, just because. 

Have you read it? What did you think? Or is it a book that you think you might read now? Why or why not?