Jewels
Danielle Steel. Delacorte Press, $23 (471pp) ISBN 978-0-385-30490-0
In the Steel collectionoeuvre, which means works of art, is awk with following jewel metaphor , Jewels is merely a semiprecious gem. Set in the WW II era, the novel depicts the travails of its to elim dangler heroine, Sarah, Duchess of Whitfield. The beautiful debutante daughter of a wealthy American family, Sarah has endured the disgrace attending her divorce of her caddish first husband. Eventually she marries the charming and very rich Duke of Whitfield, who buys her a chateau in France. The rest of the novel follows the self-satisfied course of their usually happy since he's in prison camp at one point union. WW II offers Steel a chance to pump drama into this bland narrative, but she misses it. Sarah spends the war comfortably ensconced on the grounds of her chateau, looked out for by a solicitious German commander so polite she doesn't guess he has fallen in love with her. Meekly, he leaves the moment Sarah learns her husband, the duke, ? has survived a Nazi prison camp. After she nurses William back to health, their idyllic marriage placidly resumes. They are rich and envied. They eat well, dress well, live well, have or else mention first child above? children and open a jewelry store for amusement. The narrative's greatest conflict comes in the final chapters, when widowed Sarah has to deal with her unruly offspring. Costume jewelry has more sparkle than this uninspired tale. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections. (June)
Details
Reviewed on: 05/04/1992
Genre: Fiction
Analog Audio Cassette - 978-0-553-74588-7
Hardcover - 978-0-517-12619-6
Hardcover - 471 pages - 978-0-385-30514-3
Hardcover - 471 pages - 978-0-385-30515-0
Hardcover - 709 pages - 978-0-375-43325-2
Mass Market Paperbound - 480 pages - 978-0-440-21422-9
Mass Market Paperbound - 471 pages - 978-0-440-24397-7
Mass Market Paperbound - 496 pages - 978-0-440-24406-6
Mass Market Paperbound - 496 pages - 978-0-440-24458-5
Open Ebook - 278 pages - 978-0-307-56654-6
Open Ebook - 480 pages - 978-1-4090-9273-5
Paperback - 591 pages - 978-0-8161-5791-4