Review of Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Winter Garden
Kristin Hannah
St. Martin's Press
400 pages

Winter Garden is the first must read of 2010.
Meredith and Nina Whitson have grown up glowing in the love of their father Evan and always fearing the contempt at worst or neglect at best from their aloof mother Anya. When Evan has a heart attack and is near death he makes the women he loves make a promise, a promise to hear Anya’s famous Russian Fairy Tale to the end. The Fairy Tale is a double edged sword for the sisters, but they honor a father they love above all else his dying wish. And as their mother tells her fairy tale, will the daughters finally get a glimpse of the mother they have always longed to know or will they be disappointed and a disappointment once again.
Kristin Hannah gives us an exceptional work of fiction in her newest heart-wrencher, Winter Garden. With her amazing storytelling abilities she will show us love in all of the different varieties, love of parent, of sibling and romantic love. She will tell us of loss, loss that is so unbearable that no-one speaks of it of loss that is debilitating to the point of madness. She gives us multi-dimensional characters, people you want to know, people you want to learn about and people you want to forget. Her dialogue is full of flowing prose that paints her scenes in our minds with large brushstrokes. And her love stories are truly amazing, she makes us thankful of what we have and makes it so we never forget what some have given up or lost or had taken away from them.
This may not be the first book you read this year, but it will be the best. Be prepared to use the tissue box, but don’t be embarrassed because even the most macho of men would find it hard not to shed a tear over this incredible novel. But it’s not all about crying, it’s about love, it’s about life and Kristin Hannah tells it the only way she knows how, with a lot of heart.