The Duchess: A Novel

Borrow the start of Pride and Prejudice, but make everything as much worse than that as you can. Make sure you keep all the voices modern so that your readers won't find themselves in a strange culture. Decide to make your heroine fall in love, but forget to show any signs of it. (It should be enough to just repeat again and again that it happened.) Throw in lots of juicy but unimportant details about minor characters to paint them as black as you can. And have everyone run around in the final pages singing, "Happy end! Happy end!"

Even with this poor recipe, Danielle Steel can't write a totally awful book, but she comes very close. She also doesn't explain how, if there is an entail so that her father can't leave anything to her, (not show more anything?) her brother is then able to sell the property a few years later. Certainly it is still entailed. But let's not let little historical niggles bother us. show less

I don’t think I’ve read a Danielle Steel novel since I was a teenager. My Nan and Mum used to read them on holiday, so I did too. Maybe I was too young or I didn’t pick the right book but I didn’t go back. Fast forward quite some time and Danielle Steel is again appearing on the shelves – or maybe that I just haven’t noticed until now. When I received The Duchess in the mail, I was intrigued by the gorgeous hat on the cover and that it was historical fiction. (I didn’t know Danielle Steel wrote them too). Anyway, I picked it up and enjoyed the experience immensely. It might be set in the 1830s, but there is intrigue, danger and scandal for everyone involved.

The duchess referred to in the title is Angelique, and she’s not show more a duchess, but the daughter of a duke. Both she and her father know that when he dies, her half-brothers aren’t going to look out for her. The duke gives Angelique a secret stash of money to see her safe, but not even he could have predicted the cruelty that occurs on his death. Angelique is quickly thrust out of her childhood home, not having any rights to inheritance nor protection. She’s forced into service, working for friends of her half-brother. But her employers don’t know the truth (they think Angelique is a poor cousin). Working as a nanny is difficult at first, but Angelique is practical and while not accepting of her situation, willing to do her best. But even that turns ugly and Angelique is left with nothing. She flees to Paris to try one last route of employment, but a chance meeting with a young girl sees her starting her own business. It’s not conventional for a young single girl, but it might just work…

I thought The Duchess was a great light read with its mixture of scandal as well as commentary on how women were treated during this time period. Angelique is entirely dependent on the whims of her family to support her and in her various roles, she must make up fake, ‘respectable’ pasts to be accepted on to the fringes of society. I found the dialogue quite stilted initially, but once Angelique moved into service I either got used to it or it improved. The plot also seemed a bit uneven with a bit too much time spent on Angelique’s life as a nanny but very little on a later romance. (I did wonder at this point whether there was going to be a sequel as I really didn’t think it could be wrapped up in the remaining pages. I was wrong and it’s actually a very just, sweet ending). But overall I enjoyed it. The scandals and unfair situations were breathtaking and Angelique’s responses to them were clever and original.

Would I read another Danielle Steel? You bet. I can see why my Nan loved them and why my mother is asking if I’ve finished with The Duchess yet. They are great escapist novels, perfect for holidays or those weeks where everything is so busy you just want to escape from the real world for half an hour. I liked how the plot was unique, not fitting the standard fare of ‘penniless girl finds love and another protector’. Danielle Steel isn’t afraid of putting her characters in a difficult place, physically and emotionally. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to search the family bookshelves…

Thank you to Pan Macmillan for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

“She had no idea where the future would lead her or what it would look like, but whatever happened, she was determined to survive it.”
― Danielle Steel, The Duchess

This was a quick breezy read. It is about a young bereft girl. Betrayed by family members, she must make her own way in the world. She picks an unusual way to do it.

One thing I do not like are book snobs. I know people who flat out refuse to read Danielle Steel because of her reputation for writing romance novels. I think book snobs lose out on alot of opportunities to read good literature simply because they judge themselves and others to harshly when it comes to their reading choices.

I read everything and that includes the occasional Steel book. While I moderately show more enjoyed this and loved the historical aspect of the book, I had a tough time buying into the premise. That is not to say the book is bad. It isn't. It keeps you reading and I liked Angelique, finding her gutsy and interesting. But I have enjoyed other Steel books more and much of what happens in this book made me a bit skeptical.

So I would say a solid 3 star read. Not bad but not my favorite of Steel. show less

Lets start this review by admitting that I've never been a huge fan of Ms. Steele, but I did read a few of her books which I liked. I'll not go so far as to say that this story wasn't written by the author, as some other reviewers have suggested, but for an accomplished author as Ms. Steele, this book is unacceptable.

Now, let me tell you what didn't work for me in this book.

I believe if the story was told only from the heroine's POV, it would have resonated better, but the thin plot made this story not just improbable, but totally unbelievable and most of the story, especially the ending, predictable. It annoyed me to no end that the story was told from everyone's POV. But what was most annoying was that the whole book read more as a show more movie script and not as a novel.

As for romance? Well, there wasn't much of it throughout the story and when finally our heroine falls in love, the story is rushed through and I felt absolutely no connection between the two. If I was the editor of this story, I would have made the author rewrite the ending. Huge disappointment there!

There are only two things that I thought were done well, and that's the heroine's character development and growth. I liked watching her grow into a woman of principle and strength, however improbable her journey was. The second thing was Gideon Emery's narration.

In the end, I do not recommend this read. I'm truly disappointment in it.

Melanie for b2b show less

Once more Danielle Steel does not disappoint with her newest book The Duchess. With intrigue and enchantment Steel brings to life, Angélique Latham. Through the pages, Angélique's world brings love, deceit, innocence, and loyalty. Set against the historical background of sprawling estates throughout England, to the alluring streets of Paris and then the prominent avenues of New York City, Steel interweaves the ups and downs of Angélique's journey. A fantastic read that I highly recommend that will not fail to let down a fan of Steels. Finishing the book in only a few hours after not being able to put down the book after reading a few pages. I give Danielle Steel a well done yet again from a devoted reader.

Interesting book about the unfairness of the treatment of women in the 1800's and how one privileged woman overcame it and sought redemption in the end.

This book was horrible!! I felt that the author needed to repeat herself over and over, like she forgot where she was in the story. I just couldn't/bother reading the rest of this book!