Winter Garden (Reading Group Gold)

Description: 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 travelled the world to become a famous photo journalist. 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. Every once in a while a writer comes along who navigates the complex and layered landscape of the human heart. For this generation, it's Kristin Hannah. Mesmerizing from the first page to the last, Winter Garden is an evocative, lyrically written novel that will long be remembered.

Review: Movingly written and plotted with the skill of Greek tragedy. You'll keep turning the pages until the last racking sob * Daily Mail * Unforgettable * Easy Living * A gripping, emotional read * SHE magazine * A story of sibling love, friendship and loss. I cried a lot * Look magazine * A gripping tale of family, love, grief and forgiveness from New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah * Sunday Express * Brilliant dialogue makes this a compulsive read * Books Monthly * Wrenching, convincing . . . bittersweet * Publishers Weekly * It's a tearjerker, but the journey is as lovely-and haunting-as a snow filled winter's night. * People * A gripping read. * Booklist * 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 * Winter Garden is Kristin Hannah's best written and most deeply affecting novel yet. * The Huffington Post * This tearjerker weaves a convincing historical novel and contemporary family drama. * Library Journal *