I received this advance copy from Gallery Books for an honest review. The official US release date is February 17th 2015


WHITE GARDENIA tells the story of a mother and daughter separated during World War 2 and their long and often painful journey to find one another. The story is told from the daughter's (Anya) point of view as she is separated from her mother( Alina) at the tender age of thirteen. Anya's life is rough to say the least as she struggles through some tremendous hardships through two decades of searching for her mother, of which she isn't even sure if she's still alive.

This story is ultimately about the endurance of the human spirit and how we can be tested way beyond what we think we are capable of, but yet continue on. There is struggle, tragedy, grief, betrayal, love and many instances of the ugliness of war all throughout this sprawling, 600 page book. Starting in 1945 and ending well into the sixties, by the end of the book, you feel as though you have lived right along side Anya and the extremely trying and rough life she has had to live. Although the story starts in China, Anya, a native of Russia, is uprooted to several different countries along the way, with each location being represented very well in the writing and history.

I want to give this book a perfect score so bad because it is an excellent, emotional drama, the likes of which in the right directors hand and with a solid cast, I could see being an Oscar worthy film, but unfortunately I can't bring myself to do it because I strongly feel that the book is in need of another pass through the editor's office. Every situation in the book makes sense to the story and I wouldn't necessarily leave anything out, but there are quite a few instances in which they could have been trimmed to keep the story moving along at a better pace. The story definitely works best during the first half of the book and then during the last 20 pages. Regardless, it's a fantastic story and I give this one a 4.5/5