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Winter Garden
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
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Editorial 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
Publisher's 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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I so want to give it 5 stars...!!!!
- By Joihelene on 10-09-10
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The Witch of Little Italy
- By: Suzanne Palmieri
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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When young Eleanor Amore gets pregnant, she returns to her estranged family in the Bronx, called by the "Sight" they share. It is the first time she has been back since she was 10, and while everyone else remembers that summer, Eleanor can’t recall anything earlier than the moment she left. With her past coming back to her in flashes, she becomes obsessed with recapturing those memories. Aided by her childhood sweetheart, she learns the secrets still haunting her magical family.
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Kept me entertained......
- By Barbara on 05-25-13
By: Suzanne Palmieri
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All the Winters After
- A Novel
- By: Seré Prince Halverson
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Kachemak Winkel never intended to come back to his hometown of Caboose, Alaska, where his family died in a plane crash 20 years earlier. When he finally musters the courage to return and face his painful memories, he's surprised to find a mysterious young woman living in his abandoned house.
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The Old Old Story
- By Bruce on 06-16-16
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Keeper of the Light
- Keeper Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Arielle DeLisle
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Olivia Simon is on duty in the emergency room of North Carolina's Outer Banks Hospital when a gunshot victim is brought in. Midway through the desperate effort to save the young woman's life, Olivia realizes who she is - Annie O'Neill, the woman Olivia's husband, Paul, is in love with.
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I can't finish this...
- By Calmeridian Tink on 03-31-16
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How the Light Gets In
- By: Jolina Petersheim
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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When Ruth Neufeld's husband and father-in-law are killed working for a relief organization overseas, she travels to Wisconsin with her young daughters and mother-in-law, Mabel, to bury her husband. She hopes the Mennonite community will be a quiet place to grieve and piece together next steps.
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I loved this book!
- By donna on 03-21-19
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One True Thing
- By: Anna Quindlen
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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A young woman sits in jail, accused of the mercy killing of her dying mother. She didn't do it, but she thinks she knows who did. In the last months of her life, Ellen Gulden's mother revealed startling secrets that challenged everything Ellen believed about her family. Now, in jail, Ellen believes those secrets will tell her who had the courage to end her mother's suffering.
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Quindlen's writing skills shine in One True Thing.
- By Bonny on 08-26-13
By: Anna Quindlen
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Her Mother’s Hope
- By: Francine Rivers
- Narrated by: Stina Nielsen
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Internationally best-selling author Francine Rivers—winner of a Christy Award and the ECPA Gold Medallion—crafts a riveting tale of mother/daughter bonds stretching across decades. Strong-willed Marta leaves Switzerland early in the 20th century and settles in California. Though Marta loves her eldest daughter Hildie, they often clash as they attempt to find their places in the world.
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Another Awesome Read From Francine
- By Meaghan Bynum on 04-12-10
By: Francine Rivers
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Follow the Stars Home
- By: Luanne Rice
- Narrated by: Susie Breck
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Being a good mother is never simple: each day brings new choices and challenges. For Diane Robbins, being a devoted single mother has resulted in her greatest joy and darkest sorrow. Weeks before her daughter was born, she and her husband, Tim McIntosh, received the news that every parent fears. Tim had not reckoned on their child being anything less than perfect, and abruptly fled to a solitary existence on the sea. Diane was left with a newborn - almost alone.
By: Luanne Rice
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Family Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Thayer
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Though Diane Randall’s jewelry business is a great success, her marriage is not, and she finds herself growing lonely as her children near adulthood. Meanwhile, her eighteen-year-old daughter Julia is falling dangerously in love, and Diane’s mother, Jean, is relishing her newfound freedom as a single woman in Europe. Distracted by their individual concerns, the three women are ill-prepared for the crisis that suddenly appears on Diane’s doorstep in the form of a handsome FBI agent asking about an explosive secret that’s laid buried for decades.
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Nancy! Is there a sequel? What?
- By PattieLynn on 12-02-22
By: Nancy Thayer
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The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America - and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
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Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
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Brass Ring
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Perpetual optimist Claire Harte-Mathias and her disabled husband, Jon, run a successful foundation to help people with spinal cord injuries. One night Claire witnesses a woman leaping to her death from a bridge, and the tragedy sparks murky childhood memories that leave her confused and frightened. As Claire becomes obsessed with trying to understand the power the haunting memories have over her, she's torn between blocking them from her mind entirely and trying to unearth their source.
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Disappointed with this one
- By Scott on 03-22-16
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Lost Lake
- By: Sarah Addison Allen
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future. That was half a lifetime ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband, George, is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone.
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Pure Sarah Addison Allen
- By tooonce72 on 01-27-14
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A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
- By: Brigid Pasulka
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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The novel opens on the eve of World War II. In the mountain village of Half-Village, a young man nicknamed the Pigeon, under the approving eyes of the entire village, courts the beautiful Anielica Hetmanska. But the war's arrival wreaks havoc in all their lives and delays their marriage for six long years.
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The Old & New Worlds Converge & Transcend Time
- By Sara on 11-22-16
By: Brigid Pasulka
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Fantastic!
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Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: He will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
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A Long, Hard Slog Through Endless Despair and Heartache
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✫✫ 4.75 Stars ✫✫
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Magic Hour
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Oh for heaven's sake
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Meghann Dontess is a woman haunted by heartbreak. Twenty-five years ago she was forced to make a terrible choice, one that cost her everything, including the love of her sister, Claire. Now, Meghann is a hotshot divorce attorney who doesn’t believe in intimacy - until she meets the one man who can change her mind.
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Fantastic!
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Never been so disappointed
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Very Disappointed
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Heroic & Harrowing Work Of Fiction
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Michaela, beloved wife and mother of two, lies in a coma. Doctors have told her husband Liam not to expect a recovery, but he maintains hope that love can accomplish what medicine cannot. Day after day, he sits by her bedside, holding her hand, sharing the stories of their life together. Then he discovers the evidence of his wife's secret past - a long hidden first marriage to international movie star Julian True.
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Terrible Narrator
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The Things We Do for Love
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Performance
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Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman.
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Couldn’t recommend enough for anyone craving a read with which you can really connect
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By: Kristin Hannah
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Firefly Lane
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In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all - beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn.
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Beachy Fare
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Distant Shores
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Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered the storms of youth as they built a future together. But after the children leave home, they quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job offer, Elizabeth puts her needs aside to follow him across the country. Until the sudden death of her father changes everything.
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Hit way too close to home
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By: Kristin Hannah
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The Women
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Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
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Kristin Hannah Knocked it Out of the Park
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Summer Island
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Thirty-four-year-old Ruby Bridge is a not-too-successful comedienne who uses her mother, a nationally-syndicated "moral and spiritual counselor" as the main fodder for her cynical, rather bitter humor. Her mother Nora, long divorced from Ruby's father, is a woman whose past is just about to catch up with her - in the form of blackmail by a former lover.
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Disappointed
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Home Again
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At the center of Home Again is Madelaine - a brilliant cardiologist, a loving mother, a tender friend, and a woman full of self-doubt. It is also the story of her confused and angry daughter, Lina, and of the two very different men Madelaine loves: Francis, a priest searching for his faith, and Angel, a talented but cynical man with a broken heart. When tragedy suddenly brings them all together, they must learn to forgive the betrayals of the past and find the courage to love again.
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A 50 Tissue Read
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Comfort & Joy
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Joy Candellaro once loved Christmas more than any other time of the year. Now, as the holiday approaches, she is at a crossroads in her life; recently divorced and alone, she can’t summon the old enthusiasm for celebrating. So without telling anyone, she buys a ticket and boards a plane bound for the beautiful Pacific Northwest. When an unexpected detour takes her deep into the woods of the Olympic rainforest, Joy makes a bold decision to leave her ordinary life behind - to just walk away - and thus begins an adventure unlike any she could have imagined.
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Disappointed and Bla
- By Tina Bolling on 12-26-20
By: Kristin Hannah
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The Book of Lost Names
- By: Kristin Harmel
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- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Lina Meisel, a retired librarian in Florida, is reading the newspaper one morning when she freezes. Her eyes lock on a photograph of a book she hasn’t seen in 65 years - a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names. The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II - an experience Lina remembers well - and the search to reunite people with the texts stolen from them so long ago. The book in the photograph is one of the most fascinating cases.
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Another whiney female "heroine"
- By Patricia on 08-15-20
By: Kristin Harmel
What listeners say about Winter Garden
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- A. Musser
- 11-29-17
I thought I made a mistake
After listening to another work by this author that was just outstanding (The Nightingale), I grabbed this one without much research. I thought for the first several hours that I made a mistake. The story starts so slowly and initially felt almost a bit like an immature romance novel trying to masquerade as literature. But then the story came to life much further in than I had anticipated and it became all-consuming. It did a complete 180 and morphed into one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful stories I've ever read. So if you have the patience to suffer through a somewhat monotonous buildup, the effort will pay off in the end. I eventually felt like my entire day became about when I could get back to it. I longed for the story when I wasn't listening. It's a beautiful and emotional story that will make your heart break over and over but it will also come around to an ending that is a precious treasure.
A word of warning: since becoming a mother, stories where children suffer have become exponentially more upsetting to me and this story had some elements that were so far over that line of discomfort that there were times I wanted to stop. I wouldn't recommend this to a new mother or someone struggling with PPD or someone who was in mourning. The story comes around to a beautiful place but it trudges through some of the most painful hardships to get there. Ultimately I'm glad I stuck through it but my daughter is about to turn 2 and if I'd tried to listen to this in my earlier, super-hormonal, new mom days, I don't think I could have finished it. Don't forego it completely, just wait until you can handle it if you're feeling emotionally delicate.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Donna A
- 12-14-12
A journey of discovery
"Winter Garden" has to one of my most favorite books by Kristin Hannah. The book is about 3 women and their journey of discovery of who they are, of family history, of sacrifices made, of sisterhood and family secrets.
The book opens up when sisters Meredith and Nina are putting on a family play of a ‘fairy tale’ their mother Anya often tells them at night – of a Russian Prince and peasant girl. The acting out of this play angers Anya and the play is stopped. This is when they, as sisters become distant with each other and believe their cold, distant mother doesn’t love them. Fast forward to current day – when the 2 sisters; Meredith, the nurturer who runs the family apple orchard but living in a troubled marriage - Nina, prize-winning and world-renowned photojournalist, someone who avoids coming home and committing to a relationship, and Anya, their mother. They are forced to deal with their father’s death and promises each has made to him on his death bed. These promises force the 3 women to open up about their lives to each other and discover who they are as women and what they want. As Anya finally tells the full fairy tale of the prince and peasant girl - Meredith and Nina discover who their mother really is, of her strength, endurance and regrets.
There are moments in this books that are sad, heartbreaking, yet captivating – I so enjoyed the story within a story although not always a happy or feel good type of read. I did feel the beginning of the book was a little slow to take off but well worth hanging in there - so I would give the book more of a 4 1/2 stars. There were some surprises and some parts that were very predictable. This actually was an audiobook which was narrated by Susan Ericksen. I felt she did an excellent job and made the book very enjoyable to listen to, her Irish and Russian accents were right on for me.
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143 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Terri
- 02-28-10
Best of 100
I have downloaded over 100 Audible titles and this has proven to be the absolute best for story and narration. Susan Ericksen did a phenomenal job on this narration and the story moved me beyond belief.
Excellent! Excellent!
Thank you.
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103 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Alysa
- 10-17-10
Gut wrenching....but well done.
It's actually 2 stories ....the mother's tale of Stalin's Russia/ Siege of Leningrad and the daughters' tale of being raised by this survivor....both were very interesting. I was drawn into the history and learned so much about Soviet Russia. The truth of it is very hard and sad, making it a difficult read at times. I must mention the narration. This is the first book I have purchased with truly EXCELLENT narration! I can't stress enough what a difference this made to the overall enjoyment of this book. Every emotion, every character and every accent was delivered with the obvious gift of an actress. I will never purchase another book again without rave reviews for the narration. What a difference! Bravo!
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- Pamela Harvey
- 08-04-12
Painfully Slow
It's possible to start reading this book with Part 2. Part 1 consists of: two Type A-personality daughters trying to reconnect with their semi-estranged, non-nurturing, cold, hostile, non-loving, PTSD-suffering Russian mother. That's about it. This needs about one or two paragraphs, not 12-14 chapters, or whatever the count actually is, and the author rambles on and on at an agonizingly slow, watching-paint-dry pace.
The narration was fine, but you have to like middle European dialect, the guttural "ell" sounds or your ears will burn and you will soon be fed up with the "fairy tales" and hostile utterances from - up until the end - the Mom from hell.
Bring on the violins, this one was painfully slow and incredibly dull.
I usually like Kristin Hannah's work but this was just over the top in schmaltzy sentimentality.
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- Vicki
- 07-25-10
Slow to start and unbelievable characters
In the end I am glad that I decided to finish the book. The Mother's story is extremely interesting and well told although the ending is ridiculous.
However, getting to that point was like enduring Spring allergy fog. I just wanted to go to sleep and skip over the self-inflicted and over-dramatized pain of these women. The two daughters are obnoxious, self-absorbed and, well, silly characters. I never liked them and, frankly, they were hardly necessary to the good part of the story.
While, I know the story is fiction, I do expect my fiction to have some sense of reality. There is no way that a father (especially one portrayed as being as insightful as this one was) would have let that kind of animosity build up between a mother and daughters knowing that he knew why. The author tried to portray the father as the hero of all 3 women when I think he was the root cause of all of their problems. One long conversation with the daughters and half of that book would have been unnecessary.
I read True Colors and liked it but I'm not sure I will read any others by this author.
I really enjoyed the narrator.
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- Kathryn @theBookDate
- 04-11-10
Excellent writing, excellent narrating.
Powerful story. I listened to the audio of this, very well done. It is not an easy story to listen to, but beautiful all the same. The way Kristin Hannah tells the story both in the present day and back to Stalin's time works seamlessly. In the telling of the story love and redemption eventually are born. But before that great pain and loss. Sometimes almost too unbearable to hear. Recommend the listen.
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- Nicole K.
- 11-29-17
Awesome!
My parents made me promise I’d read this. For the first few pages, I couldn’t tell why they were so enthusiastic about this book, but then, whoosh! The story took off and I was carried away. Like my 83 year old parents, I love, love, loved it!
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- John Gilmartin
- 03-30-18
Dysfunctional & Frustrating
So disappointed! Loved The Nightingale by this author and The Winter Garden was also a “must read.” Wrong! Monotonous storyline, annoying and frustrating to listen to. Could not finish - actually got a migraine! TERRIBLE!!!
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- magnoliamudpie
- 01-23-18
Slow start, strong finish, distracting narration
It took me several weeks to get through the first seven chapters of this book. The characters were whiny, the plot repetitive, and the narration took the whining, angry dialogue to a cringing level. I was resolved to just stop listening altogether, but after reading reviews that claimed it got better in the second half, I pressed on.
The storyline from there could have stood on it’s own, and I enjoyed reading a story set in a WWII but in a different country—Russia—than most authors choose as a setting for the horrendous event. While I mostly appreciated the narrator’s Russian accent when voicing the mother, she sometimes lapsed out of that accent when the mother went into lengthy storytelling.
The part of the story that was most profound to me is the author’s teasing out of how we judge others based on certain behavior or words, but we don’t necessarily know their story and how they became the person they are today.
Not my favorite Kristin Hannah work, but worth hanging in there if you find the first part close to awful.
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