Synopses & Reviews
Kyra and David have been married for almost a decade and consider themselves happy – their home is comfortable, their jobs are stable, and their five year-old son, Michael, is simply perfect. Yet for reasons they’ve never fully shared with each other, the Winters have always been afraid that something will happen to the life they’ve created, and more importantly, to their little boy.
David is a historian - he knows the past is inescapable, and yet he has spent fifteen years trying to escape the tragedy that ended his first marriage; trying to convince himself that if only he works hard enough, his new family will be safe. Kyra writes questions for a math textbook company; she loves puzzles and worships logic, yet she lives in fear of karma punishing her for the way she betrayed her sister, Amy, in college. After all, Amy was more than a sister – she was Kyra’s only real family since their mother abandoned them as young children – and their estrangement weighs heavily on her conscience.
So when Michael mysteriously disappears from his backyard one ordinary summer day, Kyra and David feel like the mistakes of their past have finally caught up to them. Each is convinced they know who has their son, but to find him, the Winters must embark upon an odyssey through time and memory. Their journey will involve David’s mother, Sandra, who offers both her son and her daughter-in-law a path to understanding, and David’s ex-wife Courtney, who lives just across town but in a universe away, where she struggles with the demons that caused her to lose everything she loved that fateful night fifteen years ago. It’s only when a mysterious stranger enters their lives that they will discover it’s not too late to become the kind of family they’ve always wanted to beif only they can find a way to forgive themselves, and believe in the gift of a second chance.
Lisa Tucker’s most optimistic work since Once Upon a Day, The Winters in Bloom is a wise, life-affirming tale that is both poignant and surprisingly funny. Though the fast-paced, captivating story will keep readers turning pages, the novel’s true power lies in its profound engagement with what it means to be alive: the mistakes we make, the price we pay, the fragility of human happiness but also the stubborn strength of the human heart.
Review
“Few contemporary novelists come close to understanding families in trouble with the insight and compassion of Lisa Tucker.” —Pat Conroy,
New York Times bestselling author of
South of Broad and
Beach Music
“In The Winters in Bloom the ties that bind are expertly knotted. With many twists, secrets, and unexpected turns, Lisa Tucker proves that sometimes these ties are wholly unbreakable. They can survive time, loss, longing—even our greatest fears—and they endure because love endures.” —Julianna Baggott, author of Girl Talk
“Lisa Tucker weaves together multiple perspectives to give us a novel rife with human entanglements of every variety . . . Most moving is the story of Kyra and David as they face the struggles every parent will recognize: how to take care of someone in a world as dangerous as it is beautiful; how to choose—daily, deliberately—joy over fear.” —Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Belong to Me
“Brilliant, tender, and riveting. Reading The Winters in Bloom is like falling into some beguiling dream, one you don’t want to wake from. Lisa Tucker has not described a world; she has created one unlike any you’ve never seen. She has breathed life into her characters, and they will breathe life into you.” —John Dufresne, author of Requiem, Mass.
Review
“The author cleverly imparts life lessons through the tale of one family.” —RT Book Reviews
Review
"Fast-paced page-turner." —
Library Journal
Synopsis
In bestselling author Lisa Tucker's latest, a family discovers that it's only when the walls between the present and past crumble that the future can bloom.
Together for over a decade, Kyra and David Winter are happier than they ever thought they could be. They have a comfortable home, stable careers, and a young son, Michael, who they love more than anything. Yet because of their complicated histories, Kyra and David have always feared that this domestic bliss couldn't last - that the life they created was destined to be disrupted. And on one perfectly average summer day, it is: Michael disappears from his own backyard.
The only question is whose past has finally caught up with them: David feels sure that Michael was taken by his troubled ex-wife, while Kyra believes the kidnapper must be someone from her estranged family, someone she betrayed years ago.
As the Winters embark on a journey of time and memory to find Michael, they will be forced to admit these suspicions, revealing secrets about themselves they've always kept hidden. But they will also have a chance to discover that it's not too late to have the family they've dreamed of; that even if the world is full of risks, as long as they have hope, the future can bloom.
Lyrical, wise, and witty, The Winters in Bloom is Lisa Tucker's most optimistic work to date. This enchanting, life-affirming story will charm readers and leave them full of wonder at the stubborn strength of the human heart.
Synopsis
In bestselling author Lisa Tucker’s latest, a family discovers that it’s only when the walls between the present and past crumble that the future can bloom.
Together for over a decade, Kyra and David Winter are happier than they ever thought they could be. They have a comfortable home, stable careers, and a young son, Michael, who they love more than anything. Yet because of their complicated histories, Kyra and David have always feared that this domestic bliss couldn’t last - that the life they created was destined to be disrupted. And on one perfectly average summer day, it is: Michael disappears from his own backyard.
The only question is whose past has finally caught up with them: David feels sure that Michael was taken by his troubled ex-wife, while Kyra believes the kidnapper must be someone from her estranged family, someone she betrayed years ago.
As the Winters embark on a journey of time and memory to find Michael, they will be forced to admit these suspicions, revealing secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden. But they will also have a chance to discover that it’s not too late to have the family they’ve dreamed of; that even if the world is full of risks, as long as they have hope, the future can bloom.
Lyrical, wise, and witty, The Winters in Bloom is Lisa Tucker’s most optimistic work to date. This enchanting, life-affirming story will charm readers and leave them full of wonder at the stubborn strength of the human heart.
About the Author
Lisa Tucker is the bestselling author of The Promised World, The Cure for Modern Life, Once Upon a Day, Shout Down the Moon and The Song Reader. Her short work has appeared in Seventeen, Pages and The Oxford American. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family.