Winter Garden

Amazon

4.3(600,022)

Sisters Meredith and Nina Whitson return to their family’s Washington orchard when their father becomes gravely ill. Meredith has remained close to home, while Nina has built a life as a conflict photographer. Both have long been hurt by the emotional distance of their Russian-born mother, Anya, whose fairy tale about a prince and a peasant girl has been repeated since their childhood without explanation.

Their father’s final request is that Anya tell the story completely. As she does, fantasy gives way to memories of wartime Leningrad, starvation, bombardment and devastating loss during the German siege. The revelation changes the sisters’ understanding of their mother and of the silence that shaped their family, linking present-day estrangement to survival and bereavement carried across decades.