The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons

Book Description:
This is the climactic book in Paullina Simons' epic trilogy that began with the international bestseller, the heartbreaking "The Bronze Horseman". This is the magnificent conclusion to the saga that was set in motion when Tatiana fell in love with her Red Army officer, Alexander Belov, in wartime Leningrad in 1941. Tatiana and Alexander have since suffered the worst the twentieth century had to offer. After years of separation, they are miraculously reunited in America, the land of their dreams. They have a beautiful son, Anthony. They have proved to each other that their love is greater than the vast evil of the world. But though they are only in their twenties, in their hearts they are old, and they are strangers. In the climate of fear and mistrust of the Cold War, dark forces are at work in the US that threaten their life and their family. Can they be happy? Or will the ghosts of yesterday reach out to blight even the destiny of their firstborn son? Epic in scope, masterfully told, "The Summer Garden" is a novel of unique and devastating emotional power that spans two thirds of the twentieth century, and three continents. "The Summer Garden" is for: love, for beauty, and for ever.

This was a great book.

I really loved the first two, The Bronze Horseman and Tatiana and Alexander, but this was even better than the first two. Emotionally intense, I was riveted to the story and what becomes of Tatiana and Alexander as they live in post WWII America. We follow them with their ups and downs in life, love, marriage and learning to live with their nightmarish memories of war and imprisonment in Russia. It was an amazing and exhausting journey - but so worthwhile!

A lot of this story is about the relationship between Tatiana and Alexander (Tania and Shura). They have this incredible love that has held them together, yet as a young married couple living in the '50's they face so much together. It's not easy for them. It's the story of their marriage primarily, infidelities - or supposed infidelities - having a young son who is insecure and coping with life in so many ways. I could really relate to them and trying to hold onto their marriage and just living day to day. Alexander is trying desperately to cope with life. He's been horribly scarred by what happened to him in a Soviet prison in Russia after the war where Tatiana rescued him in the previous book. She left their young son, Anthony, to go to get him in Europe and bring him back. She succeeds, but Alexander still suffers inside with his memories. He's just trying to live a normal life, to work, to get along, make friends and live the good life with his family in the post war boom of the 1950's.

Much of their life seems ideal on the surface. They travel in a trailor home all over the country, Alexander finds work where he can, and they finally settle in Arizona. But Tatiana is carrying around the burden of worrying what is happening to her Shura. She wants to keep him safe from harm, even though she knows the US Government wants to question him and debrief him about what happened to him in Russia, and the fact that his parents were Communists who moved there in the 1930's and were killed by the Soviets eventually. To say the least, Alexander has a lot of baggage to carry around yet he's still such an incredible guy - he's amazing - I love him!

He's tall, dark and handsome in every sense of the word. The descriptions of him are awesome and his love for Tatiana is amazing - their love for one another is amazing! Some might say, the sex scenes in this book are over the top, but I don't think so, I think they only enhance their love for one another. They're well done, and not that unrealistic considering all they've gone through. Sex is the one way they heal each other. I also really love Tatiana, she's a great heroine. Quiet strength and beauty. A determination that is indefatigable. Her love for Alexander is unswerving, except for one incident that happens, and it rips your heart out to read about how they get through it. Very well done, you are right there with them going through the hell they're experiencing. It's so emotional!

Those of you that have read the Outlander books are probably thinking - this sounds vaguely similar... it is! That's why I love these books so much! The Summer Garden spans 60 years. We see Alexander and Tatiana grow old together but there is so much more to this book than just that. Their son Anthony grows up and goes to Vietnam and is taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. Alexander, now 50 years old, must go rescue him. It's one of the most nerve wracking intense scenes I've ever read in a book, reading about Vietnam and the whole rescue! The whole scene is so well done and so reminiscent of when Tatiana rescued Alexander in the previous book. It's exciting and riveting and scary, I was on the edge of my seat reading it. There are some odd twists in the storyline concerning Anthony that were kind of shocking and unbelievable, but it just makes the book that much more interesting and hard to put down.

Over and over I was in awe of how well the author did her homework in writing about this time period and all the millions of little details she wrote about. Vietnam, weapons, nursing, building homes, living in a trailor home, lobster fishing, baking bread, the desert, there are just too many things to list, but it all sounded authentic to me and I took it all in. I loved reading about this period in America too, the baby boom years my parents lived as young marrieds having six children. I really enjoyed it.

Frankly, I'm still reeling from reading this book that left me breathless. The scope of it is still hard for me to grasp. I felt like I was living their life with them. The ending kind of went on for too long, I would have been happier with just a few epilogue-like pages instead of thirty. Lots of explanations and descriptions and details, though it isn't boring, except for maybe what seemed like the endless discussion on the SALT II talks and theory behind them during the 1980's between the US and the Soviets.

Still, this was a fabulous book, but to really appreciate it you must read the first two. This was, in my opinion, the best of the three. Not for the faint of heart either, it's over 700 pages long and a roller coaster ride to read, but I'm so glad I did. Plus, I've crossed off another book from my TBR Challenge.

5/5

Share

Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simons

Book Description:
Tatiana is eighteen years old and pregnant when she miraculously escapes war-torn Leningrad to the West, believing herself to be a widow. Her husband, Major Alexander Belov, a decorated hero of the Soviet Union, has been arrested by Stalin's infamous secret police and is awaiting execution as a traitor and a spy.

Tatiana begins her new life in America. In wartime New York City she finds work, friends and a life beyond her dreams. However, her grief is ineacapable and she keeps hearing Alexander calling out to her.

Meanwhile, Alexander faces the greatest danger he's ever known. An American trapped in Russia since adolescence, he has been serving in the Red Army and impersonating a Soviet citizen to protect himself. For him, Russia's war is not over, and both victory and defeat will mean certain death.

As the Second World War moves towards its horrific close, Tatiana and Alexander are surrounded by the ghosts of their past and of each other. In the ruins of Europe, Alexander can't escape Stalin's power. Far away, Tatiana must think first of their son Anthony. They must struggle against destiny and despair in the fight of their lives.

A master of historical epic, Paullina Simons takes us on a journey across continents, time and the entire breadth of human emotion, to create a heartendingly beautiful love story that will live long after the final page is turned.

*sigh*

I devoured this book in two days. The 2nd in The Bronze Horseman trilogy this book picked up where the last one left off. I can't say it was as great as The Bronze Horseman but I enjoyed reading about these two lovers again. Plus, it reminded me even more of the Outlander series, with the separation of the two and their struggle to reunite.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I was disappointed that Tatiana and Alexander are separated for the greater part of it. We see their different points of view as they are on their own, separated from each other. Alexander, having avoided execution, spends his time trying to escape the Soviet Union, while continuing to serve in the Red Army, but he is eventually imprisoned after the war in the Gulag. From Alexander's viewpoint, we get his story of first leaving America as a boy of 10 with his parents, and the rude awakening of the poverty and squalor of living in the Soviet Union of the 1930's. Whereas The Bronze Horseman was really Tatiana's story, Tatiana and Alexander is really Alexander's story. It's a sad tale, first leaving his wonderful home in Barrington, MA, and then facing the hardships of the Soviet Union, and the eventual spiral down of his mother's alcoholism and his parent's arrests and his capture and escape from the NKVD (Russian secret police). We also get Alexander's background of all his liasons with women as a soldier in the Red Army that the slimy Dmitri alluded to more than once in the first book. He had so many, he didn't call them by their names for he could never remember them all. Shura was no saint before he met Tatiana! It made him more realistic to me, more down to earth, not so much the Superman he is depicted as in the first book. He has his flaws just like anyone else. He even makes loves to some nameless girl standing up with a cigarette in his mouth the whole time!

I think I enjoyed reading about Alexander's background better, it was depressing, but more engrossing and detailed and poignant. The thought of him as this cute little Cub Scout in his nice little town with the picket fences and clapboard houses is just too sad. My heart goes out to him, having to leave all of it because of his parent's misguided idealism and faith in the Soviet Union. He has such a terribly hard life from then on.

From Alexander's childhood, it segues right into the present time (1944) with Alexander in the Red Army, making his way through Poland, fighting the Germans. We meet an old face which is a surprise, a nice twist and heartwrenching turn in the plot. Alexander also has another Dmitri in some ways, Nikolai, who is another prisoner with a secret, who won't leave his side. The reason was pretty easy to figure out. I like battle scenes in books, so it didn't bother me reading about how they had to fight and the various skirmishes against the Germans, though some may find it a bit dull.

On Tatiana's side of the ocean, she is alone in New York City, learning to live with her new baby boy, Anthony, and trying to cope with a new country and language and the loss of Alexander. Luckily, she's a smart girl and adapts to life in New York with the few friends she makes working on Ellis Island as a nurse. She never gives up on Alexander and remains true to him, despite her longings for a pair of strong arms and broad shoulders. She does not give in, and has a narrow escape from a would be lover, which only reinforces her decision not to rush into a relationship with anyone. She still can't quite let go of Shura, believing he could still be alive. Again, we see how strong she is and determined and it's so gratifying when she finally finds out Alexander is not dead and she goes after him to rescue him - that's where it gets really exciting.

The last 200 pages of the book are the best. Tatiana, dying her hair black, goes to Germany with the Red Cross and cleverly manages to find out what prison camp Alexander is imprisoned in. Okay, a bit implausible and read more like a Mission Impossible episode, but I couldn't put it down during that whole rescue part and reunion leading all the way up to the epilogue. If there's one thing I'd change about Shura, it's his chain smoking and the way he can become violent and almost mad at the thought of losing Tatiana. I couldn't help feeling through the flashbacks and in the last book and this one that he was always wasting their precious last days and hours together by being mad or jealous at Tatiana. To me, it seemed out of character, I had a hard time understanding it in him.

But, without giving away the whole ending, I'll just say it's happy and satisfying.

On another note, a few other reviews I've read thought the sex scenes in this book, were a bit over the top, but I don't necessarily agree. I guess I'm just so used to reading sex scenes in romances it didn't even cross my mind as being over the top, I suppose I'm a bit liberal in that respect. By the time they are finally reunited, they understandably have an explosive sexual reunion (once they are able), and I didn't find it all that unusual, albeit the circumstances were trying while they are on the run from the NKGB. Some of their flashbacks were intense, but no more so than in the last book, in my opinion.

To sum it up, was this book as good as the first? No, since a lot of it was a repeat of the previous book. But it was enjoyable nonetheless and brought closure to this part of the story. I'm eager to read the last in the trilogy, The Summer Garden.

4/5

Share