Zoya

This was part of the Danielle Steel "Golden Age" where her books really were page turners.

This one frolicks into the "whatever happened to the relatives of the Bolshevik massacre" territory. That's how we meet Zoya. Countess turned ballerina, a woman that grew up in wealth and then abandoned her privilege for love a couple of times. You're reading this book for the hardship and strife she volunteered for to get the life she felt she deserves and not one inherited - and that's a great thing because Zoya is fiercely independent and militant.

Read this and watch the movie with Melissa Gilbert and the infamous Diana Rigg.

This was my last Danielle Steel book, after being an avid fan and reader for years. With Zoya, however, I reached the "how-much-more-can-happen-to-one-person" level once and for all. Too much negative without the balance of positive throughout the book made it hard to swallow for me. Perhaps that's the point of her books. Maybe I just finally outgrew the Steel Formula.

I find some of her books to be hit-or-miss, but I absolutely loved this one. A Russian Countess, a few wars, it was all very well done.

Night of Russian Rev. 20's t/ stock market crash Great Depression - struggle to go on
light - but good.

Against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and World War I Europe, Zoya, young cousin to the Tsar, flees St. Petersburg to Paris to find safety. Her entire world forever changed, she faces hard times and joins the Ballet Russe in Paris. And then, when life is kind to her, Zoya moves on to a new and glittering life in New York. The days of ease are all too brief as the Depression strikes, and she loses everything yet again. It is her career, and the man she meets in the course of it, which ultimately save her, as she rebuilds her life through the war years and beyond. And it is her family that comes to mean everything to her. From show more the roaring twenties to the 1980's, Zoya remains a rare and spirited woman whose legacy will live on. show less

This is a good read, and has historical info regarding the Russian Revolution. settings include Russia, Paris, and New York. It is really a Horatio Alger story about a Russian Countess. The historical detail left me wanting to know more about the Russian revolution and what became of the aristocracy.

I really loved the characters in this story, Zoya stole my heart. I read it twice, by accident. I read it years ago and then picked it up at the library again last year. I was nearly through it when I realized why the characters were so familiar.

I do that often. Bad memory? Maybe.

Tras la devastación de la Revolución rusa y la Primera Guerra Mundial, Zoya, la joven prima del zar, vuela de San Petersburgo a París en busca de refugio. Su mundo ha cambiado para siempre, y tras pasar por terribles momentos, logra unirse al ballet ruso en París, con cuyo salario mantiene a su indómita abuela y a si misma. El amor aparece de nuevo cuando conoce al capitán Clayton Andrews, quien, cautivado por la joven aristócrata, se la lleva a Manhattan como su prometida. Sin embargo, ninguno de los dos imagina las penurias que deberán soportar durante los años de depresión que asolan Norteamérica.