Winter Garden starts out just a little slower than I prefer as Kristin Hannah instroduces us to Anya and her daughters. The story starts with us following her daughters, Meredith and Nina through their daily lives and shows us the enormous rift in their relationship with Anya, who seems to be a very distant and uncaring mother. 
This was a little too much set up for my taste, but once the story really begins, when Anya starts to tell her fairy tales that have a little too much truth behind them, then it is hard to stop reading. A tale of love and loss, determination, and hardship. By the end of the story you are drawn back to Russia during the war and live alongside Veronica and her family as they struggle through unspeakable things.
The end of the book isn't all sunshine and rainbows, as many stories don't end that way. But it does give a light of hope and happiness, finding new ways to live with the past, and connecting with the people around you.