Book Review..."Winter Garden"

I've just completed "Winter Garden," another good book by Kristin Hannah.  Anyone who likes the massively talented Jodi Picoult might like Kristin as well.  She writes in a similar style...providing in-depth character development to the reader.

"Winter Garden" tells the story of two sisters that adore their father.  Growing up, he was their main source of love and attention, as their mother was cold and off-putting.  She was Russian born, and the only time she came alive was when she told them a fairytale about a prince and black knight.  It wasn't the kind you could find in a book, but from her imagination...or so they think.

When their father dies, he makes the mother promise to tell the WHOLE fairytale.  On his deathbed, he begs one of his daughters to hold their mother to the promise.  They're both well into adulthood.  One sister doesn't care anymore about the fairytale, as she's accepted the fact her mother never loved them.  However, the other is insistent and continues to press their mother to continue the fable.

It took me a while to get into this, but once they finally got the mother to start weaving her tale, and you realize the story is NOT a story, but rather how her life was in Leningrad during the war, I was swept up in the 'fairytale' as well.

It drew me in, so from that point on, I was hooked.  Out of my 5-star system, I give it a 3.