Rating: ****
Tags: Fiction, General, Psychological Fiction, Psychological, Contemporary Women, Family Life, Domestic Fiction, Mothers and daughters, Russian Americans, Lang:en
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 a 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. Female bonding is always good for a good cry, as Hannah (
True Colors ) proves in her latest. Pacific Northwest
apple country provides a beautiful, chilly setting for this
family drama ignited by the death of a loving father whose two
daughters have grown apart from each other and from their
acid-tongued, Russian-born mother. After assuming
responsibility for the family business, 40-year-old
empty-nester Meredith finds it difficult to carry out her
father's dying wish that she take care of her mother;
Meredith's troubled marriage, her troubled relationship with
her mother and her mother's increasingly troubled mind get in
the way. Nina, Meredith's younger sister, takes a break from
her globe-trotting photojournalism career to return home to do
her share for their mother. How these three women find each
other and themselves with the help of vodka and a trip to
Alaska competes for emotional attention with the story within a
story of WWII Leningrad. 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.
(Feb.)
The Whitson family is rocked by the sudden death of
patriarch Evan, a warm, loving man who doted on his two adult
daughters, Meredith and Nina, and his reserved Russian wife,
Anya. Meredith, who runs the family business, and Nina, a
photojournalist whose job takes her to war zones around the
world, have never been able to connect with their cold,
forbidding mother. When Anya begins to act strangely, Meredith
thinks she belongs in a nursing home, but Nina decides to try
to fulfill her father’s dying wish and get her mother to
tell her and Meredith the elaborate fairy tales she used to
share with them. Anya is initially reluctant, but once she
begins, Nina realizes these tales are actually the story of
Anya’s life in Stalinist Leningrad. Meredith and Nina
decide to attempt to uncover the truth about their
mother’s tragic past in the hope of understanding her,
and themselves. Though the novel starts off fairly maudlin, it
evolves into a gripping read, although it’s a tearjerker.
Hannah’s previous books, including Firefly Lane (2008)
and True Colors (2009), are tailor-made for book clubs, and her
audience should find plenty to discuss in this equally
enthralling entry. --Kristine HuntleyFrom Publishers Weekly
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