Winterland cover art

Winterland

A Novel

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Winterland

By: Rae Meadows
Narrated by: Daphne Kouma
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"Daphne Kouma offers a beautiful performance, meticulously detailing 8-year-old Anya's experiences. Kouma's credible Russian accents and outstanding character development make this a story filled with heart that listeners won't soon forget."- AudioFile Magazine

Perfection has a cost . . .

Reminiscent of Maggie Shipstead’s Astonish Me and Julia Phillips’s Disappearing Earth, Winterland tells the story of a previous era, shockingly pertinent today, shaped by glory and loss and finding light where none exists.

In the Soviet Union in 1973, there is perhaps no greater honor for a young girl than to be chosen to be part of the famed USSR gymnastics program. So when eight-year-old Anya is tapped, her family is thrilled. What is left of her family, that is. Years ago her mother disappeared. Anya’s only confidant is her neighbor, an older woman who survived unspeakable horrors during her ten years in a Gulag camp—and who, unbeknownst to Anya, was also her mother’s confidant and might hold the key to her disappearance. As Anya moves up the ranks of competitive gymnastics, and as other girls move down, Anya soon comes to realize that there is very little margin of error for anyone.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company.

 Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Soviet Union Sports Russia Gymnastics Fiction
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I loved this book.
As someone who was a child of the seventies, I idolised the USSR gymnasts of this era, particularly Natalia Shaposhnikova.
This book transported me back to that moment in time.
The harsh realities of life as an elite gymnast of that era, the backdrop of 1970s USSR, the interwoven back stories of other characters.
The narration was superb.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Wow...just....wow!

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This story of a soviet gymnast looks at the last years of the Brezhnev era and the cruel system that raised athletes, skaters and gymnasts. It’s not depressing though. The heroine is surrounded by love and a great cast of characters. For one who was a child in love with gymnastics and Nadia Comaneci, it was a fascinating look at this world.

Harsh world made manageable with love

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