in Her 55th Bestselling Novel, Danielle Steel Explores The Seasons Of An Extraordinary Friendship, Weaving The Story Of Three Couples, Lifelong Friends, For Whom A Month’s Holiday In St. Tropez Becomes A Summer Of Change, Revelation, Secrets, Surprises, And New Beginnings . . .
as Diana Morrison Laid The Table For Six At Her Elegant Central Park Apartment, There Was No Warning Of What Was To Come. Spending New Year’s Eve Together Was A Sacred Tradition For Diana, Her Husband Of Thirty-two Years, Eric, And Their Best Friends, Pascale And John Donnally And Anne And Robert Smith. The Future Looked Rosy As The Long-time Friends Sipped Champagne And Talked Of Renting A Villa Together In The South Of France The Following Summer. But Life Had Other Plans . . .
just Two Weeks After New Year’s, Tragedy Strikes The Heart Of Their Close Circle, As Robert Smith Suffers A Sudden, Unexpected Loss. Without Hesitation, Diana And Eric, Pascale And John Rally To His Side, United In Their Support, Love, And Shared Grief. Convinced That A Change Of Scenery Is Just What Robert Needs, They Urge Him To Join Them On The Riviera In August. But As They Soon Discover, The Ramshackle Old Mansion They Rented In St. Tropez—sight Unseen—is Far Different From The Exquisite Villa And Sun-drenched Gardens Touted In The Brochure. Cobwebs Hang From The Ceiling. Beds Collapse Beneath Them. All While A Would-be Housekeeper In A Leopard-skin Bikini And Six-inch Heels Sashays Through The House With A Trio Of Yapping Poodles At Her Heels. But The Biggest Surprise Of All Is The Woman Robert Invites To The Villa As His Guest—a Lovely, Much-younger Film Actress With Mile-long Legs And A Million-dollar Smile. Diana And Pascale Hate Her On Sight. But The Men Are Dazzled. And Amid The Crumbling Furniture And The Glorious Sunsets, The Strained Relationships And The Acts Of Forgiveness, More Surprises Are In Store For The Villa’s Occupants. With The Last Days Of Summer Fast Approaching, Each Couple Finds Themselves Changing In Unexpected Ways, As Old Wounds Are Healed, New Love Discovered, And Miracles Unfold...all Beneath The Dazzling Sun Of St. Tropez.
by Turns Wise And Moving, Heartbreaking And Wickedly Funny, Danielle Steel’s New Novel Is About Forgiving Without Forgetting, About The Sorrow That Shadows Our Lives And The Hope That Saves Us. And It Is About Once-in-a-lifetime Friendships . . .the Kind That Heal, Sustain, And Change Us Forever.

one Thing Remains Unchanged In An Ever-changing World, As Evinced By Steel's 56th Novel: The Author's Middle-aged Principals Never Look Their Age Or Run To Fat. After A Childhood Marred By Unspeakable Abuse, New Yorker Faith Madison Has Everything A Woman Could Want: Marriage To An Investment Banker, Two Nice Daughters, A Lovely Home. Now That Her Daughters Are Grown, However, Faith Is Faced With Empty-nest Syndrome. Her Answer? Go Back To Law School. Her Boorish Husband, Alex, Tells Her She Can't; When She Runs Into Childhood Friend Brad Patterson At A Funeral, He Reassures Her That She Can. Brad Is In A Similarly Stifling Marriage On The West Coast, And The Two Begin Firing Off E-mails Of Friendly Support. Neither Is Aware Of The Growing Depth Of Romantic Feeling Between Them. Both Being Churchgoers, Once They Do Become Aware, How Will They Reconcile What They Want With The Fact That They Are Each Being Married To Someone Else? Alex And Faith's Retro Attitudes About Her Return To School Are A Little Too Pre-1960s For 40-somethings Living In The Current Year, And The E-mails Exchanged Between Faith And Brad Are Vapid In Their Painful Mundanity (...otherwise, Nothing New Here... Send Me Another Email When You Have Time). Steel Seems To Assiduously Court The Currently Lucrative Cba Market Brad Gives Faith Rosary Beads Rather Than The Usual Diamonds And Some Readers May Find Her Protagonists' Relationship Maddeningly Chaste, But The Smooth Plotting And Practiced Heartstring Tugging Achieve The Desired Effect. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Categories:

• Romance
  • Contemporary