Oh dear I feel the last person who has shown up at the party, and all the festivities have been completed. All your thoughts are so interesting to read.
I finished the book after I came home from celebrating a very festive Mexican Mother's Day dinner with my family. I was feeling so excited from the beautiful thought-out gift my children gave to me, and the sweet home made cards my two youngest grandchildren made for me, not to mention the beautiful sentimental card my one son picked out that just tore at my heartstrings. because he has never been a boy/man of many words, especially when it comes to expressing his feelings, but he always gives me a card, that allows me to see into his soul, his love for me. So about the gift.... I had saw this special painting on Facebook at a friend's reuse shop called Encore. I fell in love with this painting as soon as I saw it, and posted a comment under it asking if it was still for sale. The owner Birdie, my friend who I came to know through my daughter in law some twenty years ago, responded after awhile and said, "I am sorry Marie, that painting just sold." Feeling a bit sad and disappointed, I told my hubby, "Drat, I was sure that painting was meant for me!" Lo and behold.... after we ate our dinner at the restaurant, the kids say, "We have one more gift for you, we have to give it to you outside, and you have to close your eyes." We walk out to their car, my eyes closed, my hubby guiding me. We stop and they all say, "Okay, open your eyes." I thought I was going to faint..... there was the beautiful painting in front of me. My daughter in law had seen my post online, and had contacted Birdie, and secretly purchased the painting, to give it to me, from all of them. Oh how my heart was filled with love and joy!
So.... I come home, snuggled in on the couch, and decide to finish reading Winter Garden. I closed the book after reading the last page, and tears were rolling down my face. My hubby happened to come walking into the room at that very moment, and asked what was wrong. I could barely speak, this book and all the happenings on Mother's Day, just did me in emotionally. I read him the last chapter of the book, and he teared up and said, "It's touching the family found the daughter/sister, and that the husband waited for her all those years."
I've read all your comments and without being influenced by what I have read, I will try to express my thoughts..... I all along thought Dr. A., would be a link to Anya/Vera finding out what happened to Sasha and her daughter Anya, even though we were told she saw them blown up in front of her eyes. Something inside me, felt they survived, hence my thinking Dr. A., would bring them together. Wishful thinking, insight, a writer's intuition to a happy ending..... call it what you like.
Stacey meeting Anya, Meredith and Nina in her diner, and served them like they were royal made me question, what the heck, why would she react so strongly to total strangers, only because Anya had a Russian accent, which was never mentioned prior to this time, considering her voice was described many times, when telling the fairy tale and not. So, why didn't Anya, and Stacey see the resemblance in each other at that very moment? Yet, on pg. 180 we are told:
Meredith saw what had gotten her mother's attention. There were two framed photographs on the corner table. One was a black and white picture of a young couple. In it, the woman was tall and slim, with jet-black hair and an oversized smile. The man was blond and gorgeous. There were pale white lines that quartered the picture, as if it had been folded for many years. "Those are my parents," Stacey said slowly. "On their wedding day. My mother was a beautiful woman. Her hair was so soft and black, and her eyes. . . I still remember her eyes. Isn't that funny? They were so blue, with gold . . ." Mom turned slowly. Stacey looked into Mom's eyes and the teacup she was holding fell to the hardwood floor, spilling liquid and breaking into pieces. Stacey's plump hand was shaking as she reached for something on the table, but not once did she look away. And then she was holding something out to Mom: a small jeweled butterfly. Mom dropped to her knees on the floor saying, "Oh my God . . ." Meredith wanted to reach out and help her, but she and Nina both stood back. It was Stacey who knelt in front of her. "I am Anastasia Aleksovna Marchenko Koontz, from Lenningrad. Mama? Is it really you?" Mom drew in a deep breath and started to cry. "My Anya . . ."
While it is all good and sentimental the two of them have found each other, my mind could not grasp how they could spend time with each other in the diner, and not see or feel anything to connect them, especially the "blue eyes with gold" she never forgot?
The replica of Sash's summer garden being the same and Anya's winter garden was a sweet touch to add to the story, since the name of the book is Winter Garden, and it had to eventually tie into something meaningful, as did the butterfly which is on the front of the book cover. To hear Sasha had waited for Anya all these years, and had recently died months prior, was so romantic and heart wrenching. The first thought that came to my mind was to ask, what if Anya would have found out Sasha and Anya had survived the explosion, after her marrying Evan and having Meredith and Nina, when Dr. A. had contacted her some twenty years prior to this?
Think on that for a bit while I take a short break......
