Winter Garden: From the multimillion copy bestselling author of The Women, The Four Winds and the Nightingale Paperback – 29 Dec. 2022

I am a huge fan of these books and really all the books I have read by Kristin Hannah so far.This has all the hallmarks of a satisfying Kristin Hannah novel with strong female characters and some brilliant plot twists that kept me guessing throughout. The story is written so beautifully and it was so engaging- I think I read cover to cover in about two days!Aside from the story it’s an absolutely beautiful book, the cover art is gorgeous and the quality is top notch. A must have for any bookshelf!Overall, it’s a brilliant book for any type of reader - engaging, easy to read, surprising and completely brilliant as usual.

this book was recommended by an online reading club and had such great reviews. I have to say I found the first 50 % quite boring, but the last half is amazing. Kept me awake all night to get to the end. Wept several times.

Intense, deep and with many facets to try to understand throughout the book, until the end. It is a serious rendition, in part, of an horrific time of suffering during Germany’s invasion of St Petersburg and of the heart rending decisions a mother has to make to save her children. The tale is told in two timelines, one in war time 1039/45 war and the other in the present day formulated around the lives of the mother’s two daughters.The difficult decisions and suffering of the mother are dramatized in how they have affected the sisters, particularly their relationships.Towards the end the doom and gloom of the story gets a bit lighter as the girls, now women, get to know their seemingly unfeeling mother and the reasons for her coldness through understanding.This was a hard read with little joy yet so well written that I had to read it all, even if it did make me sigh.

Purchased on deals for kindle at a great price.There are no content issues to my knowledge.This is a must read story, it made me cry like a baby. Absolutely fantastic read and so far my favourite Kristen Hannah book. She really grips you and makes you feel like you know all of the characters. I cannot recommend this book enough- especially if you want to cry!

Another Kristin Hannah smasher. A not to be missed read. Impossible to leave it down. Again delivered in seconds to my kindle.

Not all Kristin Hannah's novels are a success to the same extent, but when it works, it works! I loved Winter Garden, even though it took quite some time and a lot of frustration (towards the mother) to get to the back story.This story is set in present-time America and in historical Leningrad during the rise of Stalin and WWII. It is a story of trauma, both lived and intergenerational. I loved the fairy tale format for the Leningrad piece, echoing how fairy tales are often beautiful on the surface, but a sinister darkness lurks. Hannah captures how suffocating life was under Stalin coupled with extreme cold and poverty during the war where starving people resorted to eating wallpaper and sawdust and so many froze to death.Anya tells her tale to her two daughters; Meredith, who is an excessive people pleaser and Nina, who is unapologetically herself! Like many KH novels, you just have to go with the hallmark-ery for the sake of the great story. For me, I love the richness of how she brings a period of history to life.

Difficult to rate this book as there are really two parts to the story. The tale of the dysfunctional family running an apple producing farm I found tedious and slow paced. I also did not warm to the characters especially Meridith and the mother Anya. I found it quite hard going.The reason the mother is so difficult to get on with becomes apparent in the second part of the story. The descriptions of Russia before the second world war and the suffering of Leningrad makes facinating reading and I really enjoyed this part of the book.Without doubt the ending is very emotional and brilliant.In summarry if you are prepaired to tolerate the first part of the book, the rest and the ending make it a recommended read. Otherwise avoid

Beautiful and heartbreaking - I learned so much about the siege of Leningrad. Written with compassion and with loving kindness.