Settings & Atmosphere - Fiction, Women's Fiction, Love & Relationships - Fiction, Disasters & Accidents - Fiction

Accident (French Edition)

Name: Accident (French Edition)
Author: Danielle Steel
ISBN: 9782266066778

by Danielle Steel

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Overview

In one tragic moment everything changed. Her daughter's life. Her marriage. Her world.

A powerful and ultimately triumphant tale of families shattered and lives changed forever by a single, devastating moment. This inspiring novel explores how many people are affected by one tragic accident--and how they survive tragedy in a world where everything can change in an instant. Steel is the bestselling author of Mixed Blessings, No Greater Love, and Message from Nam.

Synopsis

Après seize ans d'un bonheur sans nuages - mari adorable, enfants superbes, jolie maison dans la banlieue de San Francisco - l'existence de Page Clarke bascule soudain dans le cauchemar. Allison, sa fille âgée de quinze ans, et son amie Chloé sont grièvement blessées dans un accident de voiture. Chloé souffre de multiples fractures. Allison a sombré dans un coma profond. Peu après, Page apprend que son mari - qui ne fait que de rares apparitions à l'hôpital - la trompe depuis des années... Son désarroi la rapproche de Trygve, le père de Chloé, qu'elle côtoie chaque jour dans les salles d'attente lugubres de l'hôpital. Mais s'accordera-t-elle le droit d'aimer à nouveau tant qu'Allison ne sera pas hors de danger ?

About the Author, Danielle Steel

DANIELLE STEEL has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 530 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Toxic Bachelors, Miracle, ImPossible, Echoes, Second Chance, Ransom, Safe Harbour, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death.

From the Paperback edition.

Biography

When it comes to commanding bestseller lists, no writer can come close to Danielle Steel. Her work has been published in 47 countries, in 28 languages. She has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the author who has spent the most consecutive weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. She has not only published novels, but has written non-fiction, a book of poetry, and two series of children's books. Many of her books have been adapted for television movies, one of which (Jewels) was nominated for two Golden Globe awards. She has received the title of Chevalier of the distinguished Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government for her immense body of work. In short, to say that Steel is the single most popular living writer in the world is no overstatement.

Steel published her first novel, Going Home, when she was a mere 26 years old, and the book introduced readers to many of the themes that would dominate her novels for the next 30-odd years. It is an exploration of human relationships told dramatically, a story of the past's thrall on the present. Anyone familiar with Steel's work will recognize these themes as being close to her heart, as are familial issues, which are at the root of her many mega-sellers.

Although Steel has a reputation among critics as being a writer of fluffy, escapist fare, she never shies away from taking on dark subject matter, having addressed illnesses, incest, suicide, divorce, death, the Holocaust, and war in her work. Of course, even when she is handling unsavory topics, she does so entertainingly and with refinement. Her stories may often cross over into the realm of melodrama, but she never fails to spin a compelling yarn told with a skilled ear for dialogue and character, while consistently showing how one can overcome the greatest of tragedies. Ever prolific, she usually produces several books per year, often juggling multiple projects at the same time.

With all of the time and effort Steel puts into her work (she claims to sometimes spend as much as 20 hours a day at her keyboard), it is amazing that she still has time for a personal life. However, as one might assume from her work, family is still incredibly important to her, and she maintains a fairly private personal life. Fortunately for her millions of fans, she continues to devote more than a small piece of that life to them.

Good To Know

Along with her famed adult novels, Steel has also written two series of books for kids with the purpose of helping them through difficult situations, such as dealing with a new stepfather and coping with the death of a grandparent.

When Steel isn't working on her latest bestseller or spending time with her beloved family, she is devoting her time to one of several philanthropic projects to benefit the mentally ill, the homeless, and abused children.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Packed 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 California's plush Marin County. Page Clarke, devoted wife of Brad and mother of Allyson and Andy, finds her golden life shattered when 15-year-old Allyson sneaks off with friend Chloe to meet two boys. In a subsequent head-on collision, one boy is killed, Chloe is seriously injured and Allyson lapses into a coma. Page can't reach Brad, who confesses when he comes home that he is having an affair. Stunned and hurt, Page keeps a vigil at Allyson's bedside while also coping with needy seven-year-old Andy and an ambivalent husband who can't decide whether to stay or leave. Her only support comes from Chloe's father, Trygve Thorensen, who has been the primary caretaker for his kids since their mother divorced him. Other plot twists include a visit from Page's self-indulgent, neurotic mother and her sister, and a secret concerning the driver of the other car in the accident. While not drawn in much depth, the characters are believable; Trygve in particular is likable and nurturing. The ending is predictable but pleasant, bound to delight Steel's fans. One million first printing; national ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club dual main selection. (Mar.)

Stuart Whitwell

Novels fall as easily from Danielle Steel's pen as concertos fell from Telemann's and overtures from Rossini's--and for much the same reason: she owns a formula that offers very few surprises but a great many pleasures. This time her heroine is confronted with her 15-year-old daughter's car accident and the revelation of her sexy husband's waywardness. The other key relationships are with her just-turned-seven son and the father of her daughter's less-badly-injured girlfriend. The secret to Steel's success--and this is what her sneering middle- and high-brow critics miss--is her ability to write simply and generously about love. Not romantic love, but the warm, trusting love that finds its own way to romance. Critics sneer because they want something more complex, broken, or seedy, but Steel is truer to the heart of early, medieval romance and perhaps to the heart of ordinary people (assuming women are people, too). Here, anyway, readers will recognize from their own lives the fretting weariness of hospital vigils, the exposed vulnerability of young children, and the aggressive self-justification of a husband trapped in a vortex of guilt and self-pity. A touching, satisfying romance sung, for the most part, in perfect tune.