The Summer Garden
| Author | Paullina Simons |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Bronze Horseman Trilogy |
| Genre | Historical novel, Romance, war novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Media type | Print Paperback |
| Pages | 839 pp |
| ISBN | 0-00-719368-8 |
| OCLC | 67836321 |
| Preceded by | Tatiana and Alexander |
The Summer Garden is the third book in Paullina Simons' The Bronze Horseman trilogy. The novel continues the story of Tatiana Metanova and her husband Alexander Belov.
Plot
Four years have gone by since World War II has ended; and Tatiana and Alexander are married and living a life together with their son, Anthony. Yet, they are strangers to each other. Having been separated from each other for years, they do not know each other anymore.
They live a satisfactory life, with Alexander working as a lobster-man - coming home each day smelling of fish. Tatiana is now known to outsiders as 'Tania'. They move from place to place.
After Alexander confesses to why he was so cold to her, they reconcile and move houses. Finally living in a place that they've dreamed of, Tatiana's friend Vikki phones her to say that the USA government is looking for Alexander. Fearing for her husband's safety, she does not tell him. Finding out himself somehow, he goes to Washington to make everything right - also finding out that his supposedly executed mother "is still alive" in a concentration camp. Realising though, that he has been tricked by an enemy, he does not go to search for her. He meets Tom Richter - a lieutenant colonel - and earns himself a job in Yuma as a captain of the Military Intelligence arm of the U.S. Army.
Time passes by, and the family moves to Phoenix. Alexander gets a job as a builder/architect in Balkman's company. Tatiana (after persuading Alexander), gets a job as a nurse in the ER terminal care ward in the Phoenix Memorial Hospital.
Making friends with Balkman's son, Steve, Alexander has Then found the peace that he has always wanted. Here Phoenix, they can forget who they once were, and nobody would know about them.
Steve, when they first meet, talks about a young woman that he had met at the hospital when he broke his hand; saying that he's "never met anyone like her". Tatiana, after arriving home, is tight-lipped when she hears about the news of Steve. She is intentionally cold to Steve and doesn't fall prey to him. Alexander later figures out that, his wife was not "like anyone else girl" that Steve had mentioned.
After a time, Steve introduces a man named Dudley to Alexander. But, Dudley sees the tattoos - the SchutzStaffel Eagle, blue numbers, hammer and sickle and the swastika. To make matters worse, he stormed into Alexander's house, threatening to rape Tatiana and then continue on to kill them both. With being forced into a frightening dilemma, Alexander makes the decision to shoot down Dudley.
After revealing what had happened to the police, doctor, coroner and the media, Alexander starts his own company. Balkman and Steve were ruined (Dudley had turned out to be an escaped murderer - it was illegal to hire escaped convicts).
After years of trying for a second baby (Anthony once accidentally saw them but had no knowledge of sex at that time, believes that dad is hurting his mom: "Dad, I don't think Mom wants to have anymore children. Didn't you hear her?"), things have cooled off. Caught cheating on his wife, it is then revealed that Tatiana is pregnant. Tearfully forgiving him, they have a son,Charles Gordon Pasha Barrington and following Charles are two more children, Harry, and Janie, roughly 2 years later.
Almost eight years have past, Anthony has made his job choice, he is going to Vietnam to fight, even With his parents initially protesting.
Sunday evening on July 20, 1969, while the family (Tatiana, Alexander, their children - Pasha, Harry and Janie) are watching the man on the moon, a call from Richter is received and Anthony is reported missing for three days.
Weeks go by, and Vikki visits. Tatiana and Alexander find out that Vikki and Anthony have had a romantic relationship since he was eighteen. She then shows them a letter Anthony sent her. The letter shows that he is married to a Vietnamese girl named Moon Lai and she is surprisingly, pregnant.
Alexander traveled all the way to Vietnam to find his son. Using their heads, Anthony's father and Richter realize that Moon Lai is a North Vietnam communist, who is just a bait for Anthony. Alexander and a group of six (twelve?) people go to rescue him. They first capture Moon Lai who tells them everything. Despite being a trap, Lai loves Anthony, she then tries and fails to stab Alexander and Ha Si (a member of the group). She aimed for Alexander's thigh and Ha Si's face and in self-defense, they slit her throat.
Alexander rescued Anthony (who has had his right arm amputated by the North Vietnamese) losing Richter, Ha Si and others are on the way.
The novel then fast-forwards ahead thirty years to the Thanksgiving of 1999, Alexander and Tatiana's children are all grown and now have children of their own. A very large family, Alexander and Tatiana seem content with their lot. The novel ends one hot day in near their home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Tatiana was sitting on the bench eating ice cream when, Alexander stands across the street, returning from the purchase of a drink, staring at her, a bus passes by and he maneuvers around it. They sit and reminisce on the first time they met those years ago on 22 June 1941 in Leningrad.