Plus, receive recommendations and exclusive offers on all of your favorite books and authors from Simon & Schuster.
Table of Contents
About The Book
Every marriage has three stories: the husband’s, the wife’s—and the one they create together.
Every marriage has three stories: the husband’s, the wife’s—and the one they create together.
Everyone who knows Kyra and David Winter considers them over-protective parents, but the Winters have good reasons for fearing the worst. When the best thing about their lives—their beloved son, Michael— disappears from his own backyard one perfectly average summer day, the question is, whose past has finally caught up with them?
In the search for young Michael, Kyra and David will be forced to reveal secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden, but they will also discover that it’s not too late to have the sort of family they’ve always dreamed of. Lyrical and wise, Lisa Tucker’s enchanting, life-affirming novel will surprise readers and leave them full of wonder at the stubborn strength of the human heart.
Every marriage has three stories: the husband’s, the wife’s—and the one they create together.
Everyone who knows Kyra and David Winter considers them over-protective parents, but the Winters have good reasons for fearing the worst. When the best thing about their lives—their beloved son, Michael— disappears from his own backyard one perfectly average summer day, the question is, whose past has finally caught up with them?
In the search for young Michael, Kyra and David will be forced to reveal secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden, but they will also discover that it’s not too late to have the sort of family they’ve always dreamed of. Lyrical and wise, Lisa Tucker’s enchanting, life-affirming novel will surprise readers and leave them full of wonder at the stubborn strength of the human heart.
Excerpt
Chapter One
He was the only child in a house full of doubt. In bed each night, though it wasn’t dark—the floor lights his father had installed—and it wasn’t entirely private—the nursery monitor both parents refused to give up—he rehearsed the things he was certain of, using his fingers to number them. He was just a little boy, but he wouldn’t allow himself to sleep until he’d gone through both hands twice. Twenty was a good number, he thought, though of course it paled in comparison with the number of doubts, partly because his parents had had so many years to discover them, but mainly because the doubt list was always growing, towering above him like the giant boy at his old school, the one his father had called a bully. The giant boy, whose name was Paul, had never done anything to Michael, but his parents doubted that Michael could learn in such an environment and took him out of that school. The three schools that followed had led to three other doubts, and now Michael was finishing first grade in home school, even though homeschooling had its doubts, too. I doubt he’ll get the socialization he needs, his mother said. I doubt we can teach him laboratory science, his father said, but we’ll have to deal with that when the time comes. And then the words his parents didn’t have to say—if the time comes—because the future was always the biggest doubt of all.
“I will get bigger.” Michael whispered it every night, holding up his thumb. Then he said, touching his index finger, “I will not die before I get to drive a car.” He would force himself not to think of all the ways he could die, the hundreds of things his parents had told him all his life. He would also force himself not to daydream about what his first car would be like, because then he would fall asleep before he finished his counting and dream about rows and rows of shiny cars, all with headlights that looked like eyes and grills that looked like mouths.
In the morning, he was often very tired. When he slumped down for breakfast, his mother would put her hand on his forehead and ask if he was feeling okay. He hardly ever got sick, except when he was two years old and then he was so sick he had to spend weeks in the hospital, though all he remembered about that now was the pattern of elephants and monkeys on the nurses’ clothes. His mother always made him touch his chin to his chest, even if he told her his neck didn’t hurt. Sometimes she would take his temperature and inspect his throat and ears with a flashlight and push on his belly to make sure his appendix wasn’t about to burst. Only after she was satisfied that he wasn’t coming down with something would she ask, “Did you have any nightmares?”
He used to tell her, but he’d stopped when he realized that she and his father discussed his dreams the same way they discussed all the books they were reading about Raising Your Gifted Child. So he didn’t tell her about the dream he kept having where the ocean came up to his bedroom window and he jumped in a boat and floated off. He only thought of it as a nightmare because he knew it should have been scary—if he was alone in the boat, this meant his parents must have drowned. In real life, he would have cried and cried for his parents: their love for him was one of the things he was most certain of; it was always somewhere in the first five things he counted every night. But in the dream, it never occurred to him to wonder where they were. He was sitting on a flat wooden seat in the middle of the boat, listening to the sound of the water lapping against the sides, blinking at the sun hanging so low in the sky it looked like he could row right to it. He felt like the biggest, scariest parts of the world were all gone, washed away by something that was winking at him in the soft fat cloud that floated overhead.
The lady who appeared that day was like the cloud, though she wasn’t fat and she wasn’t at all soft. Her arms were so skinny that when she bent her elbows, Michael thought of the paper clips he liked to twist apart when he was supposed to be learning geography. He didn’t really like geography, though he loved the maps hung up in the room where he studied—the schoolroom, his parents called it, though it was nothing like school, because there was only one desk. The map of the city was right in front of him, and he’d stared at it so many times that he knew the lady wasn’t lying when she said she was taking him to the ocean. He’d always wanted to go there, but his father said a jellyfish might bite him, or he might swallow a mouthful of dirty, germy sand, or, worst of all, a tide current might pull him out to the sea and he would never, ever come back.
The lady had asked him where he wanted to go more than anywhere in the world. She was so nice to him that he felt like it might be true when she said she loved him, even though he’d never seen her in his life until that morning. He was outside the house, in the backyard. It was the second day of the outside alone half hour, which his mother had decided he needed after she read a book about letting kids be free range, like the good-for-you kind of chicken. Michael didn’t know what to do outside—his mother had told him to go ahead and do whatever he wanted, but he was afraid to touch anything, because dirt on your hands could make worms grow in your stomach, and he knew he should never climb a tree, he could fall and break his neck—so he walked around in circles and waved back each time his mother waved at him. She could see him perfectly while she did the dishes. So she must have seen the lady, and it must have been okay for him to go with her, like the lady said. It’s a surprise! Like on your birthday, except better!
He knew he wasn’t supposed to even talk to strangers, but the lady said she wasn’t a stranger. You’re my little buddy, the lady said, and she was crying, which made Michael feel bad for her. She was so skinny and sad, but in her car, she had lots of toys, just like she promised. She had toys he’d always wanted to play with, like robots with little parts that could break off and choke him, and bright red and blue and yellow cars that were probably made with lead paint. He was afraid to touch the toys at first, but then he decided that he wouldn’t choke or swallow lead paint unless the toy went in his mouth. And why would the toy go in his mouth, when it was so much more fun to move the robot arms and pretend the cars were zooming up and down his legs, like the lady’s car was zooming up the highway?
He might have had trouble believing that his parents had agreed to let the lady take him somewhere if he hadn’t overheard them just last night, talking about how they had to change. It can’t be good for him to be trapped in the house all summer. Other children are out of school, going to camp, playing with their friends. The two of us are doing our best, but it’s not enough. He needs more people in his life.
His mother was the one who’d talked the most, but his father had made noises that sounded like agreement. So this trip with the lady that his parents had planned must be like the time they replaced the entire heating system in the house, rather than trying to get the old one fixed. Sometimes you have to take extreme measures, his father had said, and then he’d explained that an extreme measure was necessary when the problem was so big, the only way to deal with it was to give up on what you’d done before and start over from square one.
Being with this lady, sitting in a regular seat in the back of her car belted in with a regular seat belt, next to another seat covered with dangerous toys he’d taken out of a dangerous plastic bag, on the way to the ocean, was definitely an extreme measure. On some level Michael felt this, but most of him was just excited. The lady was happy now, too; her laughs sounded like Christmas bells. She had a really friendly smile and nice straight teeth, but when she pushed her hair back, he noticed a big scar on her wrist, and he wondered if it hurt sometimes, the way Mommy’s scar on her knee did whenever it rained.
If they talked about anything important on the way to the Jersey Shore, Michael didn’t remember it. What he remembered—and would for the rest of his life—was that afternoon on the boat. It wasn’t a rowboat like in his dream; it was a big fishing boat with an upper deck and a lower deck and lots and lots of people. Michael was on the upper deck looking out at the wavy sea when a giant fish jumped straight out of the ocean and landed with a huge splash. It was a humpback whale, the fisherman announced, and everybody on the boat was pointing and talking when the whale jumped up again! It did it seven times, which Michael heard people say was amazing, because a lot of times these whale-watching boats went out for hours and didn’t see anything.
It’s because we’re lucky, the lady said. She pointed at the whale’s tail, which seemed to be waving before it disappeared back into the water. It likes you.
Michael closed his eyes tight, but when he opened them it was all still there: the bright blue sky and the soft pillow clouds and the endless ocean lapping at the sides of the boat. His hand was still tucked in the lady’s bony hand, and the boat hadn’t tipped over and the seagulls hadn’t pecked his eyes out and the big scary fish wasn’t really scary at all.
“It likes me,” Michael whispered; then he grinned as big as he could, in case the whale was looking up at him through the water. In case the whale was like the lady, who’d promised when she appeared in his backyard that all she wanted was to be Michael’s friend, more than anything in the world.
He was the only child in a house full of doubt. In bed each night, though it wasn’t dark—the floor lights his father had installed—and it wasn’t entirely private—the nursery monitor both parents refused to give up—he rehearsed the things he was certain of, using his fingers to number them. He was just a little boy, but he wouldn’t allow himself to sleep until he’d gone through both hands twice. Twenty was a good number, he thought, though of course it paled in comparison with the number of doubts, partly because his parents had had so many years to discover them, but mainly because the doubt list was always growing, towering above him like the giant boy at his old school, the one his father had called a bully. The giant boy, whose name was Paul, had never done anything to Michael, but his parents doubted that Michael could learn in such an environment and took him out of that school. The three schools that followed had led to three other doubts, and now Michael was finishing first grade in home school, even though homeschooling had its doubts, too. I doubt he’ll get the socialization he needs, his mother said. I doubt we can teach him laboratory science, his father said, but we’ll have to deal with that when the time comes. And then the words his parents didn’t have to say—if the time comes—because the future was always the biggest doubt of all.
“I will get bigger.” Michael whispered it every night, holding up his thumb. Then he said, touching his index finger, “I will not die before I get to drive a car.” He would force himself not to think of all the ways he could die, the hundreds of things his parents had told him all his life. He would also force himself not to daydream about what his first car would be like, because then he would fall asleep before he finished his counting and dream about rows and rows of shiny cars, all with headlights that looked like eyes and grills that looked like mouths.
In the morning, he was often very tired. When he slumped down for breakfast, his mother would put her hand on his forehead and ask if he was feeling okay. He hardly ever got sick, except when he was two years old and then he was so sick he had to spend weeks in the hospital, though all he remembered about that now was the pattern of elephants and monkeys on the nurses’ clothes. His mother always made him touch his chin to his chest, even if he told her his neck didn’t hurt. Sometimes she would take his temperature and inspect his throat and ears with a flashlight and push on his belly to make sure his appendix wasn’t about to burst. Only after she was satisfied that he wasn’t coming down with something would she ask, “Did you have any nightmares?”
He used to tell her, but he’d stopped when he realized that she and his father discussed his dreams the same way they discussed all the books they were reading about Raising Your Gifted Child. So he didn’t tell her about the dream he kept having where the ocean came up to his bedroom window and he jumped in a boat and floated off. He only thought of it as a nightmare because he knew it should have been scary—if he was alone in the boat, this meant his parents must have drowned. In real life, he would have cried and cried for his parents: their love for him was one of the things he was most certain of; it was always somewhere in the first five things he counted every night. But in the dream, it never occurred to him to wonder where they were. He was sitting on a flat wooden seat in the middle of the boat, listening to the sound of the water lapping against the sides, blinking at the sun hanging so low in the sky it looked like he could row right to it. He felt like the biggest, scariest parts of the world were all gone, washed away by something that was winking at him in the soft fat cloud that floated overhead.
The lady who appeared that day was like the cloud, though she wasn’t fat and she wasn’t at all soft. Her arms were so skinny that when she bent her elbows, Michael thought of the paper clips he liked to twist apart when he was supposed to be learning geography. He didn’t really like geography, though he loved the maps hung up in the room where he studied—the schoolroom, his parents called it, though it was nothing like school, because there was only one desk. The map of the city was right in front of him, and he’d stared at it so many times that he knew the lady wasn’t lying when she said she was taking him to the ocean. He’d always wanted to go there, but his father said a jellyfish might bite him, or he might swallow a mouthful of dirty, germy sand, or, worst of all, a tide current might pull him out to the sea and he would never, ever come back.
The lady had asked him where he wanted to go more than anywhere in the world. She was so nice to him that he felt like it might be true when she said she loved him, even though he’d never seen her in his life until that morning. He was outside the house, in the backyard. It was the second day of the outside alone half hour, which his mother had decided he needed after she read a book about letting kids be free range, like the good-for-you kind of chicken. Michael didn’t know what to do outside—his mother had told him to go ahead and do whatever he wanted, but he was afraid to touch anything, because dirt on your hands could make worms grow in your stomach, and he knew he should never climb a tree, he could fall and break his neck—so he walked around in circles and waved back each time his mother waved at him. She could see him perfectly while she did the dishes. So she must have seen the lady, and it must have been okay for him to go with her, like the lady said. It’s a surprise! Like on your birthday, except better!
He knew he wasn’t supposed to even talk to strangers, but the lady said she wasn’t a stranger. You’re my little buddy, the lady said, and she was crying, which made Michael feel bad for her. She was so skinny and sad, but in her car, she had lots of toys, just like she promised. She had toys he’d always wanted to play with, like robots with little parts that could break off and choke him, and bright red and blue and yellow cars that were probably made with lead paint. He was afraid to touch the toys at first, but then he decided that he wouldn’t choke or swallow lead paint unless the toy went in his mouth. And why would the toy go in his mouth, when it was so much more fun to move the robot arms and pretend the cars were zooming up and down his legs, like the lady’s car was zooming up the highway?
He might have had trouble believing that his parents had agreed to let the lady take him somewhere if he hadn’t overheard them just last night, talking about how they had to change. It can’t be good for him to be trapped in the house all summer. Other children are out of school, going to camp, playing with their friends. The two of us are doing our best, but it’s not enough. He needs more people in his life.
His mother was the one who’d talked the most, but his father had made noises that sounded like agreement. So this trip with the lady that his parents had planned must be like the time they replaced the entire heating system in the house, rather than trying to get the old one fixed. Sometimes you have to take extreme measures, his father had said, and then he’d explained that an extreme measure was necessary when the problem was so big, the only way to deal with it was to give up on what you’d done before and start over from square one.
Being with this lady, sitting in a regular seat in the back of her car belted in with a regular seat belt, next to another seat covered with dangerous toys he’d taken out of a dangerous plastic bag, on the way to the ocean, was definitely an extreme measure. On some level Michael felt this, but most of him was just excited. The lady was happy now, too; her laughs sounded like Christmas bells. She had a really friendly smile and nice straight teeth, but when she pushed her hair back, he noticed a big scar on her wrist, and he wondered if it hurt sometimes, the way Mommy’s scar on her knee did whenever it rained.
If they talked about anything important on the way to the Jersey Shore, Michael didn’t remember it. What he remembered—and would for the rest of his life—was that afternoon on the boat. It wasn’t a rowboat like in his dream; it was a big fishing boat with an upper deck and a lower deck and lots and lots of people. Michael was on the upper deck looking out at the wavy sea when a giant fish jumped straight out of the ocean and landed with a huge splash. It was a humpback whale, the fisherman announced, and everybody on the boat was pointing and talking when the whale jumped up again! It did it seven times, which Michael heard people say was amazing, because a lot of times these whale-watching boats went out for hours and didn’t see anything.
It’s because we’re lucky, the lady said. She pointed at the whale’s tail, which seemed to be waving before it disappeared back into the water. It likes you.
Michael closed his eyes tight, but when he opened them it was all still there: the bright blue sky and the soft pillow clouds and the endless ocean lapping at the sides of the boat. His hand was still tucked in the lady’s bony hand, and the boat hadn’t tipped over and the seagulls hadn’t pecked his eyes out and the big scary fish wasn’t really scary at all.
“It likes me,” Michael whispered; then he grinned as big as he could, in case the whale was looking up at him through the water. In case the whale was like the lady, who’d promised when she appeared in his backyard that all she wanted was to be Michael’s friend, more than anything in the world.
Reading Group Guide
Get a FREE ebook by joining our mailing list today! Plus, receive recommendations for your next Book Club read.
By clicking 'Sign me up' I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge the Privacy Policy and Notice of Financial Incentive. Free ebook offer available to NEW US subscribers only. Offer redeemable at Simon & Schuster's ebook fulfillment partner. Must redeem within 90 days. See full terms and conditions and this month's choices.
This reading group guide for The Winters in Bloom includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
INTRODUCTION
The Winters in Bloom recounts the story of a family stricken by grief—and guilt—after the disappearance of their five-year-old son from his own backyard one ordinary summer morning. As Kyra and David Winter embark on a journey of time and memory to find their child, they are forced to reveal secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden. But the couple is also given 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.
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. The Winters in Bloom takes readers into one family’s anxieties and fears about raising a child. Explore this topic further by having a movie night with your book club. Rent Parenthood (1989) and discuss any parallels you find between the characters in the two stories. Both Steve Martin’s character and David Winter have problems with their own fathers: how does this affect their ability to be fathers themselves? Discuss the similarities and differences between the more traditional extended family in the movie and the extension of the Winter family that includes Sandra, Hannah, and Courtney.
2. Being a good parent—or failing at one’s role as a parent—is a significant theme in the novel. Mothers, especially, are discussed in great detail. Have a dinner party with your group and discuss the types of mothers in the novel. Consider Courtney’s mother Liz, Courtney herself as a mother, Amy and Kyra’s mother, and both Amy and Kyra as mothers. Finally, discuss Sandra, who acts as the stand-in mother for many of the characters. Over dinner, share with your group why you think Sandra is or is not successful in her role as a mother. Is she what you would define as a good mother? Why or why not? Do any of these characters remind you of the mothers in your own life?
3. If you haven’t done so already, have your book club read one of Lisa Tucker’s previous novels. Try The Promised World (2009), The Cure for Modern Life (2008), Once Upon a Day (2006), Shout Down the Moon (2004), or The Song Reader (2003). Which book is the group’s favorite? Can you find any similarities between the characters in The Winters in Bloom and the other book by Lisa that you read?
INTRODUCTION
The Winters in Bloom recounts the story of a family stricken by grief—and guilt—after the disappearance of their five-year-old son from his own backyard one ordinary summer morning. As Kyra and David Winter embark on a journey of time and memory to find their child, they are forced to reveal secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden. But the couple is also given 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.
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- The novel opens with Michael in his bedroom counting on his fingers the things of which he is certain. He counts twenty certainties each night, which is a small number compared to his list of doubts, “the future was always the biggest doubt of all.” (p. 3) Could this opening scene be said to foreshadow the kidnapping? Do you think Michael has some kind of sense of what might be in store for him? Do his parents? What does this scene tell us about the Winter family?
- Discuss Amy and Kyra’s relationship as children and as young adults. Do the two sisters have a typical relationship? Why or why not? Revisit the scene on page 20 when their mother leaves them. How does this event help shape the adults Amy and Kyra become?
- Were you surprised to learn about Amy’s drug use? Why do you think she was so determined to keep it a secret from Kyra?
- Consider Zach and his role in the novel. Is he a sympathetic character? What role, if any, do you think he played in what happened to Amy? Do you forgive him for what he did or did not do in his relationship with Kyra? Do you think he deserves some of the blame for the problems Hannah has?
- During his first interview with Detective Ingle after Michael’s disappearance, David feels that the detective is insinuating that he and Kyra are “failing as parents.” (p 59) Do you think David is actually afraid that this is true? Does Kyra share this fear? Why is being a good parent so important to each of them?
- Evaluate Sandra and Courtney’s relationship. Why do you think the two women remain close after the breakup of David and Courtney’s marriage? Do they need each other equally or is it an uneven relationship in terms of caring for and being cared for? Turn to Chapter 8 and discuss.
- On page 103, Sandra says: “You never get over the ones you lose.” In light of this quote, think about the ways in which the characters in the story live with their grief over losing someone they love. Consider Sandra, David, Kyra, Courtney and Hannah in your response.
- Michael’s disappearance acts as the catalyst for David and Kyra to finally share their pasts with each other. During the course of the day, Kyra asks David: “Do we really know each other? Do you think I know you?” (p. 167) Do you feel that Kyra and David know each other well? Can anyone ever fully know another person? Why or why not?
- Did you suspect that Hannah was Amy’s daughter? Compare and contrast Amy and Hannah. Do the two women share any similarities?
- Families are, by nature, inter-dependent. Even the Winters and their estranged or distant relatives are deeply connected, perhaps more so than they realize. Consider the ways in which David and Kyra’s lives are shaped by or shape the lives of Courtney, Amy, Hannah, and Sandra. Use the following lament from Kyra as a guide: “It was as if her family’s very existence relied on the collapse of her sister’s.” (p. 292)
- Revisit one of the concluding scenes in the novel, where Michael is climbing a tree entirely by himself. (pp. 300-301) What is the significance of this moment? Does it mark a turning point for Michael? For the other characters? How so?
- Did the ending of the story surprise you? What do you think Kyra meant when she said: “Though she’d lost her sister, her sister’s daughter had found her again. This wasn’t fate or karma; this was grace.” (p. 304) How do you define grace?
- Discuss the symbolism in the title. How are the Winters “in bloom”? In what ways had something both changed and not changed—as Michael says in the last line of the novel? Do you think the Winters will start to include Courtney and Hannah in their life with Michael?
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. The Winters in Bloom takes readers into one family’s anxieties and fears about raising a child. Explore this topic further by having a movie night with your book club. Rent Parenthood (1989) and discuss any parallels you find between the characters in the two stories. Both Steve Martin’s character and David Winter have problems with their own fathers: how does this affect their ability to be fathers themselves? Discuss the similarities and differences between the more traditional extended family in the movie and the extension of the Winter family that includes Sandra, Hannah, and Courtney.
2. Being a good parent—or failing at one’s role as a parent—is a significant theme in the novel. Mothers, especially, are discussed in great detail. Have a dinner party with your group and discuss the types of mothers in the novel. Consider Courtney’s mother Liz, Courtney herself as a mother, Amy and Kyra’s mother, and both Amy and Kyra as mothers. Finally, discuss Sandra, who acts as the stand-in mother for many of the characters. Over dinner, share with your group why you think Sandra is or is not successful in her role as a mother. Is she what you would define as a good mother? Why or why not? Do any of these characters remind you of the mothers in your own life?
3. If you haven’t done so already, have your book club read one of Lisa Tucker’s previous novels. Try The Promised World (2009), The Cure for Modern Life (2008), Once Upon a Day (2006), Shout Down the Moon (2004), or The Song Reader (2003). Which book is the group’s favorite? Can you find any similarities between the characters in The Winters in Bloom and the other book by Lisa that you read?
Product Details
- Publisher: Atria Books (June 5, 2012)
- Length: 304 pages
- ISBN13: 9781416575412
Browse Related Books
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): The Winters in Bloom Trade Paperback 9781416575412
- Author Photo (jpg): Lisa Tucker Photo Credit:(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit