Why a Booktrail?
1940s – A Russian mother, now an American immigrant tells the most wonderful fairytales to her daughters. But soon it becomes apparent that they are a clue to her past…
Winter Garden
What you need to know before your trail
Anya Whitson tells the most elaborate and fantastical Russian fairy stories to her two children Meredith and Nina. But there’s one she never finishes. Anya is a Russian immigrant who married an American and when he suffers a stroke, he begs her to finish the story. She’s always been a hard and cold person who never seemed to love her daughters like she should. So be sharing this story, it is hoped that mother and daughters will at last start to understand each other. He asks them not to give up on their mother in the same way they believe she has given up on them.
And so the fairy tale begins, but it soon becomes clear that this often dark and deep tale masks the key to learning of their mother’s past. Will good triumph over evil and will there ever be any kind of happy ending where this family is concerned?
Travel Guide
From the banks of the Columbia River and the orchard called Belye Noche to the snowy landscapes of Alaska to the confines of a Russian fairytale, this novel is a journey of the past and in particular that of one woman and she moves from her home life in Russia, from frozen, war torn Leningrad to modern day Alaska as she searches for the truth.
Ever wondered what truth lies behind the most elaborate of fairy stories? Stories often hide dark secrets and mirror events of the past and help people to understand the present.
Anya is a women whose past is too painful to describe but wrapped up in a fairy tale, it becomes to unravel. Every evening, there is a new chapter to tell, a new experience of A Russian landscape, ravaged by war and the setting for some horrific experiences.
“Already the face of Leningrad is changing. The Bronze Horseman is covered ins sandbags and wooden planks. Camouflage nets hang over the Smolny; gray paint has been splashed over the golden spires of the Admiralty.”
This Leningrad and the war is also the story of their mother’s past – her experience of the Siege of Leningrad, the forced evacuation of children, the hardship, the lies and guilt, the having to do anything to survive. This is no fairytale but one of harsh reality and poignant meaning.
“Outside all is smoke and screaming. She can hardly see anything but destruction – burning buildings, black and smoldering holes in the ground, ruined houses.”
“All of these people – children mostly – waiting for a night that won’t fall, for protection that may not come at all.”
The battle of Leningrad, Stalin’s rule, the bitter winters with no food – their mother has seen it all. Now locked away in the darkest recesses of her mind, it starts to reveal itself..As the story reveals itself it is a heartbreaking account of the battle of Leningrad and the brutality of that time. This is the legacy of war and the suffering which ripples over time…
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Winter Garden
Author/Guide: Kristen Hannah Destination: St Petersburg, Alaska Departure Time:WW2, 2000s
Facebook: /AuthorKristinHannah Web: kristinhannah.com
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