Winter Garden

How well can we ever know ourselves if the person who gave us life remains a mystery?

Sisters Meredith and Nina Whitson have spent years moving in opposite directions. Meredith stayed close to home, dedicating herself to her family and the apple orchard that has been in their family for generations. Nina chased adventure across continents, building a celebrated career as a photojournalist. Despite their differences, both women share a complicated bond with their mother, Anya—a distant, inscrutable woman whose love has always seemed just out of reach.

When their father falls gravely ill, Meredith and Nina return home and find themselves drawn back into the family they thought they understood. Before he dies, he asks them to honor a long-standing tradition: Anya must tell the Russian fairy tale she shared with them as children one final time, and this time, she must tell it to the end.

What begins as a story unfolds into a revelation. As the fairy tale gives way to memory, Anya is forced to confront the truth of her past—a past rooted in the horrors of wartime Leningrad and guarded by secrets she has carried for more than fifty years. Moving between past and present, the novel traces a remarkable journey through love, loss, survival, and sacrifice, as Meredith and Nina uncover the hidden history that shaped their mother and, in turn, themselves.

Heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful, this unforgettable story explores the bonds between mothers and daughters, the resilience of the human spirit, and the ways family secrets echo across generations.