Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

    It took me two weeks of intermittent reading to get past the first 75 pages.  Ho hum, boring, lets get some action going here.  Only the last 50 pages kept my score of this above a 3 out of 10.  So, try to stick with it, readers.  I gave 8's and 9’s to the other eight books by Kristin Hannah, so that track record kept me plugging away.

  Two daughters struggle with their relationship with their Mom.  Mom was a cold fish.  Thankfully their Dad was the warm loving glue that held the family together.  But when the Dad dies everyone is left wanting.  The two daughters have grown up as two entirely different kinds of women, not connected very well with each other or their Mom, who now needs more care than they can agree on. 

    The mother used to tell the girls fairy tales and eventually continues to tell them these fanciful stories as she becomes less able to care for herself.  She is most herself  when she cooks huge amounts of food to be stored and eaten as needed.  Many days and evenings she sits outside in the cold, colorless winter garden, on a cold bench, under-dressed, and alone.

    Finally the stories begin to make sense and the three women begin to come together as a family.  The ending is rewarding to a determined reader, so stick with it and understand why the author designed the story the way she did.  Only determination got the mother through the unimaginable hardships of her life.  7.5 out of 10