Winter Garden

 

This book by Kristin Hannah is a story within a story. The framing story is about a dysfunctional family in which the mother, Anya, has never shown any love or affection to her two daughters, Meredith and Nina, except for telling them occasional fairy tales late at night. The girls' father was the one who loved them demonstrably, but early on in the book he dies and leaves the family floundering. He made the girls promise to get to know their mother better. Meredith runs the family's apple orchards while thanklessly taking care of her octogenarian mother. As a consequence, she has no time for her husband and the marriage threatens to fall apart. Nina is a photo journalist traveling the world and rarely coming home, but when she does, she attacks  her sister for putting their mother into a rehab center where she will get more consistent care and be safe. The mother is showing signs of possible dementia and Meredith is simply overwhelmed with her responsibilities. She is also furious with Nina for never helping or being present to share the burdens of the family business. The historical story, couched initially as a fairy tale, is extracted from their mother due to Nina's insistence as she promised her dying father. It is the story of a woman and her two children during the siege of Leningrad during WWII.Both stories are painful reading and way too long. There is redemption at the end, but it seems far fetched to have transformed these unlikable main characters in such a short time.  Kirkus agrees with me of the on this point, noting that it is "a manipulative and contrived ending...Hannah... sabotages a worthy effort with an overly neat resolution." Publishers Weekly felt differently, saying "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."

I liked other books by Hannah much more, especially The Nightingale.

The Hunter

This is the 2nd installment in Tana French's "Cal Hooper" series.  See my post on The Searcher for quick background on the main character. It's been about 2 years since the events of the first book and Cal and Lena are now officially an item in the small Irish village of Ardnakelty where Cal is restoring a run down cottage and teaching a local teenager, Trey (short for Theresa), how to be a carpenter so she'll have future possibilities outside the townland. In other words, things are going well until Trey's long absent father swans back into town towing a London "millionaire" who claims to have information about gold depositss on the local area. Of course the pair are planning to scam the village inhabitants of "investment" money when planted gold is "found" and Trey is more than willing to help in the scheme to get revenge for the death of her older brother and the way the village has treated her family for years. Suddenly everthing the three have been working toward is at risk. Cal and Lena want to protect Trey at any cost, especially when she finds the money man dead on a mountain road. Tray has other ideas and is heedless of the potential consequences of her actions. the book is a slow start but a tense wind-up at the end. French''s writing and characters are worth the time it takes to reach the climax. 

Publishers Weekly calls this a "slow burn sequel" that is a "cut above similar fare." Booklist gushes "French's characterizations are brilliant, as always," and says the book is "masterfully written." Kirkus closes their review with this: "The book abounds in local color and lively dialogue. An absorbing crime yarn."