Friday, October 15, 2010

Family Ties - Danielle Steel

Family Ties - Danielle Steel
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Contemporary Fiction
ISBN : 9780593063002
Paperback : 322 pages

Book Synopsis:

Annie Ferguson was a bright young Manhattan architect. Talented, beautiful, just starting out with her first job, new apartment and boyfriend, she had the world in the palm of her hand—until a single phone call altered the course of her life forever. Overnight, she became the mother to her sister’s three orphaned children, keeping a promise she never regretted making, even if it meant putting her own life indefinitely on hold.

Now, at forty-two, as independent as ever, with a satisfying career and a family that means everything to her, Annie is comfortable being single and staying that way. She appears to have no time for anything else. With her nephew and nieces now young adults and confronting major challenges of their own, Annie is navigating a parent’s difficult passage between lending them a hand and letting go, and suddenly facing an empty nest. The eldest, twenty-eight-year-old Liz, an overworked, struggling editor in a high-powered job at Vogue, has never allowed any man to come close enough to hurt her. Ted, at twenty-four a serious and hardworking law student, is captivated by a much older, much more experienced woman with children, who is leading him much further than he wants to go. And the youngest, twenty-one-year-old Katie—impulsive, artistic, rebellious—is an art student about to make a choice that will lead her to an entirely different world she is in no way prepared for but determined to embrace.

Then, just when least expected, a chance encounter changes Annie’s life yet again in the most unexpected direction of all.

From Manhattan to Paris and all the way to Tehran, Family Ties is a novel that reminds us how challenging and unpredictable life can be, and that the powerful bonds of family are the strongest of all.

Danielle Steel has always been a favourite author of mine. It has been a while since I have read any of her books so was great to pick up when from the library to read.

The story starts with Annie having enjoyed spending time with Seth her boyfriend of two months. She was needing to complete some work when she received a phone call from her sister advising her that they were about to head home after having spent the weekend away with her husband enjoying a romantic getaway from their three children and closing up their summer house.

Little did Annie know but the flight home of her sister Jane and her husband Bill would change both her life and the life of her sisters three children forever. Jane and Bill were killed in an aeroplane crash flying on their way home.

Annie takes over the care of her sisters three children and sets any thoughts of romance aside to devote her life to her sisters children. The children grow up to be responsible and caring adults and the story tells of the different challenges the three children face and how it will effect their lives. Annie also gets to take a look at her life and find with the children grown up and fending for themselves that it now time she has to spend on herself and will she allow the opportunity for some romance.

Altogether a great read and had me turning the pages to see the different issues the characters were going to encounter and how they would deal with them. Danielle has a knack of writing about everyday life situations and as you read the story you can clearly envision and easily imagine the story developing as it does. Life is certainly full of challenges but even though we try and reach out and help others sometimes you just have to be able to stand back as best you can and let others fend for themselves and hope that everything will have a way of working out for the best otherwise you will be there to help out if and when you are needed.

Another enjoyable read from Danielle.

If you would like to check out this and other books from Danielle then you can check out her website here.

Here are two video clips featuring Danielle talking about Family Ties...




0 comments:

Post a Comment