The Gift
Danielle Steel / Author Dell Publishing Company $7.99 (288p) I
Set in the 1950s, Steel's account of a family coming to terms with a child's death spent 12 weeks on PW's bestseller list. (Mar.)
Details
Reviewed on: 02/05/1996
Genre: Fiction
- Amazon
- Apple Books
- Barnes & Noble
- Bookshop
- IndieBound
- Share
- Tweet
- Copy Link
More By and About this Authorchevron_right
- LONE EAGLEDanielle SteelNobody ever said love was easy, but in Steel's latest romance, it's a perpetual uphill battle. From the moment beautiful, enormously poised 17-year-old Bostonian Kate Jamison meets Continue reading »
- LEAP OF FAITHDanielle SteelSteel's usual verve is all but absent from her 52nd novel, a hasty Cinderella story that begins when heroine Marie-Ange Hawkins goes from an idyllic French childhood to a loveless upbringing Continue reading »
- THE KISSDanielle SteelFirst kisses are often explosive, but not all are quite as disaster-ridden as the one that propels Steel's latest romance. Isabelle Forrester, elegant and refined wife of cold and indifferent Continue reading »
- SUNSET IN ST. TROPEZDanielle SteelA long-planned vacation in St. Tropez goes wrong in any number of ways in this latest platinum-frosted amusement by Steel. Three pairs of friends in their 50s and 60s decide to spend a month Continue reading »
- ANSWERED PRAYERSDanielle SteelOne 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 Continue reading »
- JOHNNY ANGELDanielle SteelIn the 1962 rock ballad, Johnny Angel isn't an angel, but an angelic young dreamboat. In Steel's book, the titular hero is both—as well as class valedictorian, a football/track star, Continue reading »
- SAFE HARBOURDanielle SteelAn 11-year-old girl strikes up a friendship with an artist and introduces him to her mother, a grieving widow, in Steel's 59th bestseller-to-be, a sweet but slow-moving romance. The girl, Continue reading »
- RANSOMDanielle SteelA reformed drug dealer, a desperate widow, a bigtime crook and a compassionate cop are the players in this perfunctory kidnapping yarn set in San Francisco. Peter Morgan, a privileged young man, Continue reading »
- SECOND CHANCEDanielle SteelFiona Monaghan, 42, lives the high life. With six years under her belt as editor-in-chief of Chic Magazine , a high fashion rag, Fiona is wined and dined around Continue reading »
- ECHOESDanielle SteelEurope in the throes of WWI and II serves as backdrop for this latest dose of melodrama from megabestseller Steel. Bookish, raven-haired beauty Beata Wittgenstein meets dashing French nobleman Continue reading »
- IMPOSSIBLEDanielle SteelSasha de Suvery Boardman, the 48-year-old heroine of Steel's latest romance, knew she had it all—perfect marriage, two terrific grown kids, prestigious art galleries in Paris and New Continue reading »
- MiracleDanielle SteelMiraculous? Indeed. Miraculous that Steel ekes 200 pages of book out of 50 pages of recycled plot. Quinn Thompson, a 61-year-old recent widower, has just bought the boat of his dreams—an Continue reading »
- Toxic BachelorsDanielle SteelWhen you've got three attractive men in a Steel novel, each determined to stay single, you can expect romance, love and marriage vows around the corner, as well as the usual mix of glamour, Continue reading »
- Coming OutDanielle SteelIn her 67th novel (following May's The House ) bestselling author Steel (more than 530 million copies sold) fashions a plot around a single event: an Continue reading »
- H.R.H.Danielle SteelPoor Christianna, princess of Liechtenstein. Fettered by duty and tradition, her existence is an "achingly boring" slog of ribbon cuttings and state dinners, further straitened by her Continue reading »
- SistersDanielle SteelFour stunningly beautiful Connecticut-bred sisters pursue their \t\t disparate careers in prolific Steel's (H.R.H.) latest. There's Candy, 21, a Continue reading »
- Bungalow 2Danielle SteelIn Steel's latest, 42-year-old Tanya Harris loves her life as a mother of three, wife of a dashing San Francisco lawyer and moderately successful writer of short stories and soap opera Continue reading »
- Amazing GraceDanielle SteelWith Bungalow 2 still on bestseller lists, Steel checks in with a Bay Area earthquake that shakes up the lives of three beautiful, talented yet somehow Continue reading »
- Honor ThyselfDanielle SteelSupreme spinner of romantic yarns, Steel (Amazing Grace , etc.), in her lamentable latest fable of female courage, fortune, fame and fashion, features Continue reading »
- RogueDanielle SteelRomance titan Steel doctors up a familiar formula with fresh results. Having had just about enough of the gadabout ways of dot-com millionaire and perpetual Peter Pan, Blake Williams, Maxine, 42, Continue reading »
- A Good WomanDanielle SteelNineteen-year-old Annabelle Worthington, the only daughter of a wealthy New York banker, weathers a life of unexpected catastrophe with superhuman patience in Steel’s solid latest. After her Continue reading »
- The Happiest Hippo in the WorldDanielle Steel“Different can be wonderful and beautiful,” gushes an author's note on the back of this cumbersome story starring an oversize, bright-green hippopotamus who is born into a family Continue reading »
- Southern LightsDanielle SteelA veteran of exploring wealthy family dynamics, Steel now flirts with the thriller, introducing two familiar fixtures, the serial killer and the strong single female attorney determined to get him Continue reading »
- Big GirlDanielle SteelHousehold name Steel (Going Home ) falls short of her best in her latest. Victoria Dawson has always felt like an outcast. When her little sister Grace is born, Continue reading »
- Message from NamDanielle SteelAn audacious--and ill-conceived--departure from her usual glitzy settings, Steel's ( Daddy ; Star ) 25th novel focuses on the Vietnam War, though it merely skims the surface of that turbulent era. In Continue reading »
- No Greater LoveDanielle SteelSteel ( Heartbeat ) shamelessly plucks her readers' heartstrings in this predictably sentimental novel. In 1912, during a harrowing Atlantic crossing, 20-year-old Edwina Winfield loses her parents Continue reading »
- JewelsDanielle SteelIn 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 Continue reading »
- Mixed BlessingsDanielle SteelThe prolific Steel ( No Greater Love ) turns her attentions to a contemporary topic: infertility, and the desperate measures that couples resort to in the hope of biological parenthood. Steel's Continue reading »
- VanishedDanielle SteelDespite some redundancies and dimensionless supporting characters, Steel's 31st novel is a potent blend of romance and intrigue. When Marielle Delauney marries New York steel magnate Malcolm Continue reading »
- AccidentDanielle SteelPacked with Steel's trademark dense plotting and incidents featuring everything from sexual abuse and infidelity to car crashes and impossible relatives, her 32nd novel (after Vanished ) is set in Continue reading »
- The GiftDanielle SteelSteel deviates sharply from her usual romance formula in this tender if sometimes sappy story about bad things happening to good people. It's 1952, and the Whittakers are the perfect happy family. Continue reading »
- WingsDanielle SteelRomantic triangles are Steel's forte, and this narrative, set mostly at the brink of WWII, finds her in familiar territory. Although Cassie O'Malley, 17, knows more about planes than her father, Pat, Continue reading »
- LightningDanielle SteelThe latest offering from the indefatigable Steel is as much a cancer-survival manual as it is a romance novel. Alexandra Parker has it all--a partnership at one of New York's most prestigious law Continue reading »
- Five Days in ParisDanielle SteelThe grand, operatic gesture dominates Steel's 36th novel, a tightly crafted, if utterly unsuspenseful, tale that pits honor against ambition in high places. Peter Haskell has it all: a beautiful Continue reading »
- Silent HonorDanielle SteelThe doyenne of bestseller lists weaves another romantic story in her 38th novel, a tale of separated families and shattered lives set against one of the most morally reprehensible events in U.S. Continue reading »
- The RanchDanielle SteelTwenty years ago, in college, the three female protagonists of Steel's 40th novel were ""like sisters."" Now, Mary Stuart Walker is on all the best charity boards in Manhattan, Tanya Thomas is a Continue reading »
- Special DeliveryDanielle SteelTo the many women in Beverly Hills playboy Jack Watson's life, ""Everything about him was irresistibly charming, even the way he left them."" Teetering on the cusp of 60, however, the former Continue reading »
- The GhostDanielle SteelSometimes it takes a touch of the supernatural to bring true love to a heartbroken man. That's the gist of Steel's 41st novel, a predictable romantic saga that bounces back from the 20th century to Continue reading »
- The Long Road HomeDanielle SteelScandal, betrayal and treachery do little to animate this dreary saga from the prolific Steel (The Ghost). By the time she's six, Gabriella Harrison has known nothing but torture at the hands of her Continue reading »
- The Klone and I: A High-Tech Love StoryDanielle SteelThe subtitle, ""A High Tech Love Story,"" need not frighten Steel's loyal fans. More fanciful than technologically snappy, this novel (her 42nd, after The Long Road Home) grafts one scientific Continue reading »
- Mirror ImageDanielle SteelThe raven-haired twins in Steel's (The Klone and I) latest romance wend their way through the social dilemmas and crises of conscience that abound in the lives of two motherless heiresses. Flitting Continue reading »
- BittersweetDanielle SteelMany a stay-at-home mom's worst nightmare is realized in Steel's latest novel when India Taylor's husband, Doug, threatens to end their 17-year marriage if she dares to pursue her long-abandoned Continue reading »
- Granny DanDanielle SteelIn a fable compact enough to be swallowed in a single gulp, the prolific Steel (Bittersweet) offers a granddaughter's tribute to Danina Petroskova, ""Granny Dan,"" a Russian immigrant who left the Continue reading »
- The WeddingDanielle SteelSteel's 48th novel (after Irresistible Forces), about weddings Hollywood-style, gets off to a slow start, but just when the singsong prose and bland introductory details begin to get frustrating the Continue reading »
- The House on Hope StreetDanielle SteelHave Kleenex near at hand; the heartstrings are plucked nonstop in this vintage Steel, her 49th (after The Wedding). Liz Sutherland, wife of the dashing Jack (also her partner in a divorce law Continue reading »
- JourneyDanielle SteelMarital abuse in its most insidious form is the focus of Steel's (The House on Hope Street, etc.) dependable page-turner, her 50th novel. To the outside world, Washington, D.C., television coanchor Continue reading »
- Family TiesDanielle SteelA bland, forgettable tale full of platitudes and clunky exposition, Steel's latest bestseller-to-be follows Annie Ferguson, who inherits her sister's three children when she dies in a plane crash. Continue reading »
- LegacyDanielle SteelSteel (Big Girl) rebounds from a string of less than stellar books with this inspiring story about a frustrated woman who rediscovers her passion for life during a genealogical quest. After Brigitte Continue reading »
- Family TiesDanielle SteelSteele?s sprawling narrative concerns the efforts of 42-year old architect Annie Ferguson to juggle her career and budding romantic life with worry over the travails of her now grown nephew and Continue reading »
- WingsDanielle SteelSteel's novel of a daring woman pilot circa WWII was a PW bestseller for eight weeks. Continue reading »
- LightningDanielle SteelA woman's mastectomy has a disastrous effect on her marriage in Steel's latest, which spent 10 weeks on PW's bestseller list. Continue reading »
- Five Days in ParisDanielle SteelFIVE DAYS IN PARIS Danielle Steel. Dell, $6.50 ISBN 0-44022284-2. Steel's 36th novel, an 18-week PW bestseller, is a tale of l'amour fou between two Americans in Paris who are married to other Continue reading »
- MaliceDanielle SteelA beautiful woman survives misfortune only to find her happy marriage threatened by an unscrupulous press. A 10-week PW bestseller. Continue reading »
- Freddie's TripDanielle SteelIn both format and overall appearance, Steel's new series--starring a freckle-faced five-year-old named Freddie--displays an improvement over her Max and Martha titles. However, these two initial Continue reading »
- WanderlustDanielle SteelRomance fans can expect to pick their way blindfolded along the familiar, rocky path to love in Steel's 18th novel, which begins in the 1930s. Audrey Driscoll often thinks that she might like to Continue reading »
- KaleidoscopeDanielle SteelThe pages of Steel's newest novel are packed with an assortment of one-dimensional characters, each one more broadly sketched than the last. Sam Walker and Arthur Patterson, American soldiers in Continue reading »
- ZoyaDanielle SteelWith the emotional panache that pleases her devotees, Steel (Kaleidoscope) portrays Zoya Ossupov, a courageous young woman of Imperial Russia who experiences both ecstasy and trauma. Daughter of a Continue reading »
- StarDanielle SteelThough Steel's ( Zoya ) novels showcase glamorous settings and turbulent romances, she writes convincingly about universal human emotions. Her latest book begins in California just after World War Continue reading »
- DaddyDanielle SteelSteel's captivating 25th novel will send her rocketing past the 125-million mark for books in print and satisfy avid fans with its splashy sentiment, loudly plucked heartstrings and boldly drawn, if Continue reading »
- Martha's Best FriendDanielle SteelShirley Temple would feel right at home in these books. The pages are filled with attractive, smiling--and for the most part white--people, and the stories could easily inspire a tap dance or two. Continue reading »
- MaliceDanielle SteelSexual abuse in myriad forms imbues Steel's new novel with uncharacteristically dark tones. The narrative covers more than 20 painful years in the life of Grace Adams, an incest victim who, at age Continue reading »
- 44 Charles StreetDanielle SteelAfter her boyfriend and business partner leaves her, Manhattan art dealer Francesca Thayer is forced to take in boarders in order to save her beloved home. In short order, she rents out rooms to Continue reading »
- Hotel Vend�meDanielle SteelSwiss hotelier Hugues Martin owns and operates the Vend�me, one of Manhattan's most prestigious and hip hotels. His supermodel wife, Miriam, runs off with rock star Greg Bones (she meets him when he Continue reading »
- 44 Charles StreetDanielle SteelIn Steele's romance, having broken up with her long-term boyfriend, Francesca Thayer is forced to take in tenants in order to pay her mortgage. Over time, Francesca bonds with her three tenants, and Continue reading »
- BetrayalDanielle SteelTallie Jones is a wildly successful Hollywood director with a loving college-aged daughter, Max, and a devoted boyfriend/producer, Hunt. Her assistant, Brigitte, also happens to be her best friend. Continue reading »
- BetrayalDanielle SteelTop Hollywood director Tallie Jones is in the middle of making her next blockbuster with her significant other, producer Hunter Lloyd%E2%80%94and with the indispensable aid of her personal assistant, Continue reading »
- Until the End of TimeDanielle Steel?I will love you until the end of time,? aptly named lawyer and minister Bill Sweet repeatedly tells style director and design ?muse? Jenny Arden in this tender romance that overcomes even death. Continue reading »
- First SightDanielle SteelThe latest from the prolific grand dame of the beach read concerns iconic designer Timmie O'Neill. Despite her looks, talent, and good soul, Timmie has had it hard. From an early age she grew up in Continue reading »
- WinnersDanielle SteelIn Steel?s latest (after First Sight), Olympian hopeful Lily Thomas is injured in a freak ski-lift accident while on vacation in Squaw Valley. Her father, business tycoon Bill Thomas, refuses to Continue reading »
- Power PlayDanielle SteelThrough shrewdness and hard work, Fiona Carson has shattered the glass ceiling at a Palo Alto, Calif., tech company, NTA (National Technology Advancement), but that's not the only thing that sets her Continue reading »
- WinnersDanielle SteelJust as the title suggests, the prolific Steele?s latest effort is all about victory in the face of adversity. Relating the troubles of six people?including a neurosurgeon, a psychologist, and an Continue reading »
- Pretty Minnie in ParisDanielle SteelMinnie, Steel?s ?teacup-size? Chihuahua that inspired her 2013 memoir, Pure Joy: The Dogs We Love, is the star of this sugary story. Minnie accompanies her owner, a Parisian girl named Fran�oise, Continue reading »
- Prodigal SonDanielle SteelPerennially popular Steel (Power Play), who is nearing the publishing century mark with her trademark blend of family issues and problematic romances, delivers a contrived tale of suspense centered Continue reading »
Featured Fiction Reviews
All the Ruined Men
Bill Glose
Combat veteran Glose debuts with an emotionally charged linked collection about a squad of American soldiers trying to survive combat and its aftermath after tours in Continue reading »
Is Mother Dead
Vigdis Hjorth
Hjorth (Long Live the Post Horn!) delivers a gripping tale of obsession about an artist and her frayed relationship with her family. Johanna, nearing 60, hasn’t spoken to her Continue reading »
The Family Izquierdo
Rubén Degollado
Degollado’s vivid linked collection (after the YA novel Throw) delves into a large Texas family’s rise to prominence and subsequent misfortunes. “La Tierra” sets the stage in Continue reading »
Properties of Thirst
Marianne Wiggins
Pulitzer Prize finalist Wiggins (Evidence of Things Unseen) returns with a powerful epic set on a Southern California ranch during WWII. Rocky Rhodes named the ranch Three Continue reading »
chevron_right
