A Good Woman

Another good book from Steel. I honestly don't know if she can write a bad one. Rich in character development and scenery, but not so much to give you the 'come on already' feeling. I didn't find too many surprises in this book as everything went smooth and was easy to guess what was to come. This usually disturbs me but with this book it didn't. It was like eating your favorite meal....having seen it, you KNOW what it is...having eaten it a few times you KNOW the taste...the knowledge of this doesn't lessen your senses it acts quite the opposite. It's what makes your taste buds water and want more.

Great read...Recommend

This was the first Danielle Steel book I'd ever read, and I was looking forward to it because the plot sounded so rich. How wrong I was. I thought this book was poorly written. The characters were two-dimensional, and lacking in emotional depth.

This is one of the less action-packed of her books that I've read. I feel like this book was more about the character of the characters than the events happening. It is a very good book, but we are talking Danielle Steel. I don't think she knows how to write a bad book!

Born into a life of luxury and raised among the privileged classes of New York society, nineteen-year-old Annabelle Worthington has spent the majority of her life mingling with the afluent and cherished elite, as a part of the glittering world and the glamorous ballrooms of the Manhattan social set. With glorious family homes on Fifth Avenue and also in Newport, Rhode Island, Annabelle has been raised to expect only the best that life has to offer - taught to rely on her family's name and their stellar reputation to pave her way in life. Yet Annabelle's life as she knows it is irrevocably swept away on a bitterly cold day in April of 1912, when the sinking of the Titanic shatters her life forever. Drawing on an indomitable source of show more strength from somewhere deep within her grief, Annabelle pours herself into volunteer work.

It is while nursing the poor, that Annabelle finds her true purpose - igniting a desire in medicine, a passion that will never be extinguished - something which will inevitably shape the course of her life far into the future. But for Annabelle, it is her first love, and a seemingly idyllic marriage which will soon bring her yet more grief and an incalculable heartbreak. Devastated and betrayed by the revelation of her husband's deepest secrets, Annabelle flees New York for war-ravaged France, pursued by a scandal she does not deserve. Hoping to lose herself in a life of service, Annabelle will dedicate herself to the fulfillment of others.

There in the heart of war-torn France - at the height of World War I - in a ground-breaking field hospital run entirely by women, Annabelle finds her true calling. Working as an ambulance medic on the front lines; studying medicine; tending to the gravely sick and grievously wounded; doing what she can to save lives. And when the war ends, she begins her new life in Paris - as a respected doctor, a mother, and with her past put firmly in its place; her devastating memories almost entirely forgotten...until a fateful meeting opens her heart to the world she had left behind.

Finding strength in the unlikeliest of friendships, pulling together the broken fragments of her life, Annabelle will return to New York once more - this time as a changed woman; a woman of rare substance; someone who was forged by life's experiences; and infused with her hard-won knowledge of harsh circumstances. Annabelle will finally find joy in building a future filled with hope...growing out of the rich, fertile soil of the past.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book; I found it to be well-written, richly detailed and well-grounded in the historical period. In my opinion, this was slightly different from Ms. Steel's usual work, and Annabelle Worthington was a vibrantly strong character, who I immediately related to - and felt for - as I read further into the story. I would certainly give A Good Woman by Danielle Steel an A+! show less

I really liked the storyline. However, Steel's writing is horrible: so repetitive. In every chapter she has to remind the reader what happend previously. After reading about 10 times that Annabelle can't go out socially for a year after a death in the family, I get the idea. I don't need to read it x times more.

Not your typical, cheese-y by Steel. I think her historicals are the best. It was great from the beginning. A woman in the early 1900's whose husband & her family had died & she had to choose what she wanted to do with her life. She went to medical school and became a doctor. She opened her own practice & took care of her son. She had to overcome some situations since she was female.

Also the first Danielle Steel book that I've read; picked it up in desperation at an airport last week. Some of the historical background was interesting and it was better than a Harlequin romance novel, but not much. I won't be reading another of her books, ever.