The Summer Garden

Without the blizzards and war of the Siege of Lenningrad and WWII in general, the Summer Garden becomes a very different kind of story for Tatiana and Alexander who have finally reunited in America. With their son they rediscover who they are and meet challenges that neither could have seen coming. Their personalities and the ways in which they conflict and bind them together are so masterfully illustrated - these characters become so completely alive to the reader. They both come from such unimaginable struggles it is difficult to believe they could have a normal life - and both Tatiana and Alexander struggle with this idea as well. A wonderful closing to the beautiful story of the most dynamic love story ever written.

I'm absolutely enamored with this series! In the first two novels in the Bronze Horseman trilogy by Paullina Simons, she throws our two protags, Alexander and Tatiana, into peril from the outset- starting with the siege of Leningrad during WWII on through their eventual escape to America in the late 1940's. When the second book ended, I couldn't see how Simon's could squeeze any more gripping material out of Tatiana and Alexander's lives. But she wonderfully surprised me. As the blurb for The Summer Garden states, their story was only beginning. The Summer Garden starts where the story left off before the epilogue of Tatiana and Alexander(Or The Bridge to Holy Cross for any Brits and Ozzies out there!). Though Alexander has joined Tatiana and their son Anthony in the US, part of him is still in the gulag Tatiana rescued him from, unable to move forward and unable to allow himself to live after seeing, and causing, so much death and destruction. But Tatiana is a fierce one and doesn't give up so easily. They travel all over the US trying to find a place they can call home, and along the way, bring him to a place of healing. I found this one to be much more sexual then the first two- almost erotic really- but that too had it's purpose, a metaphor if you will, for the spiritual melding their marriage so desperately needed after their time apart. They end up in Arizona, on a parcel of land Tatiana bought with the money Alexander's mother horded away after his father zealously gave up their US citizenship and hauled his family to the Soviet Union during the pre-war years. You would think that after all they had been through- sieges, starvation and the total destruction of their families and homeland- that all the pain was behind them and that nothing could break them. But you would be wrong. They find that peaceful life can be way may more insidious, with it's ghostly fingers plucking at them until they become something they never thought they would. This is why I fell for this book in a much deeper way then even the first two. I have found in life that the big things, like death and pain, are far easier to survive then the little things that can eat you away before you even realize it. Like the slow dripping of water that erodes a massive stone, we are often unaware of the things that constantly hit us until all that we thought we were is almost totally gone. Although the big things define us and show us what we can be, it's the little things and how we deal with them, that show us what we are. And so it was for Tatiana and Alexander. We follow them through the years, through bad decisions and successes, death and birth, through children growing up and themselves growing apart, until the very end when we see them with their family, white haired but still in as much love as the day when Alexander crossed the street to meet a skinny, blond haired girl innocently eating ice cream, waiting for her life to begin. Alexander is the ult

I knew that I was going to take my time on this book. It was the last of the triology and I waited SOOO long for this book that it gave me something to look forward to. It was in no way, shape or form as good as The Bronze Horseman, but it eloquently ended the saga of Tatiana and Alexander. I was worried through the entire book that I would be depressed for weeks when it was done, but luckily I was wrong. Paullina Simons cannot write a bad book. In fact, she cannot even write a good book. She has written only wonderful books.

*Possible Spoilers for those unfamiliar with the first two books* The Summer Garden completes the trilgy that Paullina Simons began in The Bronze Horseman and continued in The Bridge to Holy Cross (UK title is Tatiana and Alexander), bringing to an end the story of lovers Tatiana and Alexander. The Bronze Horseman concerns the genesis of the love affair, when Alexander, a young soldier in the Red Army falls in love at first sight with Tatiana Metanova- the sister of his girlfriend, Dasha at the begining of the second World War. The lovers first challenge is attempting to navigate their relationship to avoid hurting Dasha with whom Tatiana is very close. However that quickly takes a backseat when the seige of Leningrad begins and Tatiana fights for her own survival and that of her family. Eventually Tatiana and Alexander marry but Alexander is called back to the front- Tatiana follows him until Alexander realizes that a secret from his past is putting both of their lives in danger. In desperation he fakes his own death (which he believes is imminant) and assures that a pregnant and grieving Tatiana will give birth to her child in America. The sequel begins soon after- we learn that though Alexander has been taken prisoner he has survived and is desperately trying to get to Tatiana. Meanwhile a heartbroken Tatiana tries to make a life for herself and her newborn son in America, but is tormented by her lack of closure regarding Alexander's death. In desperation Tatiana leaves her son, Anthony with a friend, joins the Red Cross and goes to a recently defeated Berlin where she discovers Alexander in a POW camp. Alexander and Tatiana succeed in a desparate escape from Europe and are reunited with their son in America where they begin their lives together. Thus, the Summer Garden begins when Tatiana and Alexander, both barely into their 20's have survived the worst that the twentieth century, and humanity itself can offer. Their next challenge comes from one another-they must learn to adjust or a life where they can share a relationship openly, where they don't face death and destruction on a daily basis. After facing brutal battles, POW camps, and the horrors of the Holocaust, Alexander fears that he is too emotionally damaged to be a good husband and father. Meanwhile Tatiana misinterprets Alexander's emotional distance as a boordom with her and their son, Anthony. As the pair attempt to find a balance in their new life, cold war paranoia threatens their family. The first half of the novel deals with these very day to day challenges over the course of the next 3 decades. As readers we come to know Tatiana and Alexander as they learn to like eachother as well as love eachother, and deal with challenges that every couple, everwhere face. We get to know these heroic characters in a "normal" life as well as in life and death situations, and we feel that we know the characters better for it. The second half of the novel deals witn life and death on