From Publishers Weekly Holland's most popular Christian fiction writer offers her first novel in an elegant English translation， telling the story of Ika Boerema， a Dutch landscape designer who has fled a childhood scarred by the shame of her illegitimate birth and loveless parents. She is abruptly pulled back into this emotional past by a letter informing her of her mother's impending death. Ika must confront years of emotional neglect and pain in facing her family again and making peace with her mother and with herself. Verweerd dances back and forth between the present and poignant flashbacks to Ika's childhood， which tantalizingly disclose why she fled her family. Her memories gradually reveal her parents' blatant favoritism for Ika's younger sister， her stepfather's constant criticism， her mother's cool distance and her grandfather's obsession with sin. They also tell warmly of one teacher's kindness to Ika， and the boy who shared her passion for gardening. The novel's most compelling mystery， however， is the identity of Ika's father. Her mother has kept his name an ironclad secret and now threatens to take it with her to the grave. Ika's transition from a bitter and wounded daughter to a woman capable of compassionately washing her mother's dying body is gentle and realistic. Verweerd steers clear of predictability and preaching， using a soft-spoken narrative and well-developed characters to bring about a quiet redemption in one woman's life. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information， Inc. From Booklist Starred Review Verweerd is a Dutch writer， and The Winter Garden was her first novel， just now making its way to the U.S. Its heroine is nondescript Ika Boerema， a landscape designer who receives the news from her sister， Nelly， that their mother is dying. Nelly wants Ika to come home， but Nelly was always the favored one， while Ika was an illegitimate daughter and grew up a near-outcast. Ika's phlegmatic employer advises against it: the prodigal family doesn't deserve her， she says. But Nelly's sense of duty runs deep， and she connects with her roots in what turns out to be both a spiritual search and a search for identity， since her mother has never revealed the name of Ika's father. Ika is herself a winter garden， in other words， striving to become a whole woman， perhaps even to flower. This is a fine， subtle story reminiscent of Barbara Pym. John MortCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved See all Editorial Reviews