Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge
This is my second and final read for the Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge as somehow the other two titles I had picked for some reason or other never reached me! I do not think it was the post, as many other books have reached me. Having picked four titles my first choice was the excellent and evocative The Sandalwood Tree. missing out choices two and three we move on to my fourth and final choice reviewed here today.
It is only because of the Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge that I find myself reading Danielle Steel again as just over two years ago I read and reviewed Sisters claiming that ‘Although I have been reading the novels of Danielle Steel as light relief for over thirty years I am now seriously wondering why I continue to do so. She may be a prolific and popular author but I think the time has come to remove her novels from my wishlist and spend more time reading other authors that I enjoy more’. If I was so disappointed why did I indeed pick one of her titles for the challenge, well I am glad I did as this was so much better. An enjoyable read which I devoured in a couple of days, but I do prefer a book to have more substance to it these days than this provided. Danielle Steel is certainly a very prolific and popular writer with millions of fans and if her books come my way I may well read them from time to time for light entertainment, but they will still not be appearing on my wishlist.
Two female protagonists dominate this story, separated by hundreds of years but sharing family genes. We first meet Brigitte Nicholson the modern day female, actually a somewhat boring character, living a safe and academic lifestyle, that I wanted to shake very early on in the book. Her life is turned upside down unexpectedly and struggling to come to terms with what has happened to her, she agrees to help her mother with a genealogy project, just for something to do initially. Fortunately for the reader the story is not just about Brigitte, she is just the tool the author has used to introduce us to the other female protagonist Wachiwi; whom we first meet in Chapter Six when we are transported from modern day to 1784 and are introduced to this daring young Sioux Indian girl. Her story is one of courage in the face of the unknown and for the rest of the novel it swaps between present and past as we learn Wachiwi’s story both in real time and through the research Brigitte is carrying out in the present day. Brigitte discovers that her family has connections to the French aristocracy and she cannot wait to learn how and why a Sioux Indian should end up in France married to a member of her family. Her boring life at last seems to be changing as she finds herself taking opportunities she would never have thought of considering before embarking on the family research. Her ancestor Wachiwi certainly seems to shake up Brigitte’s life for the better and the story provides the reader with a few hours romantic entertainment.
Legacy by Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel was born on August 14, 1947 in New York, New York, The United States. She is one the world’s most popular and highly acclaimed authors, with eighty international bestselling novels in print and 600 million copies sold. Nowadays she divides her time between California and Paris. She has nine children that despite her many interests always remain her first priority. From an education in New York and Europe to a professional background in public relations and advertising, and teaching, Danielle moved on quickly to her literary career, she wrote her first book at nineteen. Often, she works on five books at a time — researching one storyline, writing another, and editing the third. Still, she often spends two to three years researching and developing a single project. In the heat of a first draft, it is not uncommon for her to spend eighteen to twenty hours a day glued to her 1946 Olympia manual typewriter.
Family, children, and young people are the central focus of her life, and her passion, which frequently shows in her writing. She deals with the themes that touch on the most pressing issues of real life, which makes her books universal, and touch so many people. She is fascinated by the pressing life situations that affect us all, how people handle them and are often transformed as a result. And her novels have explored subjects such as kidnapping, incest, mental illness, suicide, death, divorce, adoption, marriage, loss, cancer, war, among others. She also frequently writes about historical themes, shedding new light on familiar historical events with meticulously accurate research.
Information for this post is with thanks to the following websites.
Goodreads Author Profile Facebook Profile
Danielle Steel writes a blog Minnie Mouse where you can learn a lot more about Danielle the person. For Danielle the author visit her Official Author Website
Nice review! A pity you didn't get the other books! Maybe it was because you'd get the books one by one, with the next book only after you posted your review of the previous one? So, after you posted this review, you'd have gotten the next book (except it's now too late)?
ReplyDeleteI read a few Danielle Steel books and although they are not my first choice, they can be fun indeed.
Leeswammes@ Thankyou for calling by and commenting. It was a shame about the challenge not working for me. I received, read, reviewed and posted my first review and informed Transworld. I waited and waited for the second book which should have been sent to me at that time. I eventually chased it, to be told it would be resent, it must have been too late and they sent book four instead. If I get the opportunity to participate again I will need to keep ahead.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I've ever read any Danielle Steel books. This one certainly sounds interesting, though!
ReplyDeleteSusan@ It was and a good introduction to her writing if you ever get the chance to read.
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