by Kristin Hannah
A fantastic book. A (male) friend of mine asked if this was a women's book - meaning the gushy romance stuff. And it is not. But I still would say it would appeal more to females than males because it deals with relationships - specifically the relationship between mothers and daughters and between sisters. That is the focus. It does touch on the relationships the women have with men. Mostly these relationships are discussed because the women are broken in spirit due to their lack of relationship with their mom - and therefore the other relationships in their lives suffer.
The books begins with the death of the two sisters' dad. On his deathbed one sister makes a promise to take care of Mom and one makes a promise to Dad to listen to Mom's fairy tales. Both sisters find Mom to be very cold and uncaring. They never felt loved by her. Spending any amount of time with her is difficult. Still they loved their father and feel compelled to honor their promises.
While listening to the fairy tales they begin to realize that the tales are about real places and real events. Mom tells the tales in the 3rd person and so they wonder how their Mom fits into the stories.
The stories all surround the time of Stalin's reign and his purges in the 1930's. It covers WWII and the siege of Leningrad.
It is a great book that intertwines relationship issues with real historical events. It really was very hard to put down. Very good book.
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