Hanna's Daughters: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Marianne Fredriksson

Book Overview

Hanna. Johanna. Anna. Three women, three generations, one family. A #1 international bestseller in Europe, this luminous, heartfelt novel spans more than a hundred years in the lives of three... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345433491
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.2" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Hey Stinky

Funny how true the saying "Like mother like daughter" comes to life in this emotional and inspiring novel, Hanna's Daughters, by Marianne Fredriksson. Three generations of women are portrayed through family lives and a changing society. It is fascinating how the grandmother's lifestyle differed from the grandaughter's although still sharing a common thread. Love and loss, becoming strong though sacrifices, yielding to men and the hardships of running a household are constant themes.The novel also focused on the many complexities facing the families. A few examples are abusive and alcoholic fathers and husbands and unfaithful fathers and husbands. I was impressed with the way the author structured the sequencing of stories around each of the women. She used past letters, dreams, and flashbacks to compare and to contrast the duaghter's lives. One that I enjoyed was about Broman and his love for his daughter, Johanna. I was able to parallel it back to Johanna's dream about going to the cave when she was a child. She was not cold because she was able to cuddle with her father. Such connections in the book made me eager to read on to uncover others.Throughout the course of the book similarities between the women's lives began to appear. Hanna's mother, Hanna, Johanna, and her daughter Anna had the emotional bond of child loss. They experienced the heartbreak of children dying in famine, of suicide, abortion and infant death. Another commonality was the struggle of Hanna and Anna as single mothers after the divorce or death of their husbands.Hanna's Daughters was an incredibly moving portrayal of the relationship between mothers and daughters, their love bond and the hardship that goes along with this love. There are the emotions of guilt and heartache that go hand in hand, even in a sometimes twisted and difficult bond that exists between mothers and daughters. Along with these heart wrenching experiences the author demonstrates how fulfilling a relationship between a mother and daughter can be.

Excellent reading for daughters, mothers and grandmothers

I loved the book! I gave it to my mother and grandmother to read and they enjoyed it just as much as I did. Being Swedish helped us relate to the book but I think women of all generations and nationalities can recognize themselves. It makes you realize that your mother and grandmother were your age once and that their thoughts weren't far from your own. READ IT!

A must for any grandmother, mother or daughter

"The years came and went, the children came and left. The worst of getting old is not tiredness and aches and pains, but that time rushes on, so quickly that in the end it doesn't seemto exist. It's Christmas and then it's Easter. It's a clear winter's day and then a hot summer's day. In between is a vacuum." The writing is beautiful, the characters unforgettable, a wonderful generational story. A bit confusing at first, trying to keep track of who's who, but worth the effort. No matter where in the world, this story shows the great opression of women throughout history and their roles as mothers, wives, daughters and granddaughters.

Powerful story of three generations of Swedish women.

The author claims this is not autobiographical, yet her insights into the depth of her characters might suggest otherwise. Not only the events of their lives and their families, but their feelings and thoughts at each moment along the way. While some of my book group did not like the interlacing of Anna's story into that of her mother's and grandmother's, I found this both a great literary device for this story(ies) and a way of keeping me from losing the continuity of the three lives and how the past repeats itself. The translation from Swedish resulted in rather terse and unembellished prose, but I liked this also. Being of Scandinavian heritage and knowing the story of my grandmother's hard life in Denmark and Minnesota, I could relate to the level of detachment women used as a defense mechanism and their stoic and silent way of bearing all things. The richness of the characters and story have stayed with me long after reading the last page. This is my test of a good novel.

A touching story about a woman's life without being kitsch

This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a time - I never had time to read, but one nicht I grabbed it and could not stop reading. For a few days and nights I lived with Hanna, Anna, and Johanna - all three of them remarkable women in their times. It is very much a "women's book", I cannot picture men liking it that much, because they don't know (and they CAN'T) anything about the sometimes difficult relationships between mothers and daughters. This book even taught me a lesson: talk to each other as long as there is time, don't put it off. It's a wonderful book that makes you laugh and cry! withought being KITSCH.