It's been a while since I've been able to enjoy a novel over one weekend. But I just couldn't help it, this book had me from beginning to end. I'm always intrigued by anything about WWII and the holocaust. When that's combined with the journey of a figuring out someone else's story and family, I'm a sucker. I would say that this novel is two of my favorite books combined in one amazing story: Briar Rose (holocaust story told in a fairy tale) and Sarah's Key (a journalist's search to find the answers regarding her in-laws).
The Whitson sisters are so very different. Meredith has raised a family and ran the family's apple orchard, while Nina has traveled the world as a famous photographer/journalist. Their father is the rock that tries to keep his family together, while their distanced and disconnected mother is someone they have never understood. But when their father falls ill, his last wish is for them to get to know their mother, Anya, through the complete Russian fairy tale she partically told them as girls. All the symbolism of the tale is stripped away to tell the true story of Anya's life in Leningrad during WWII. As they learn the secrets that their mother has been harboring for about 50 years, the Whitson women grow together as a family and change who they are in the process. This book will have you shocked all over again by life during the war as well as so involved emotionally that you can't put it down until you know how it ends.
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