Danielle Steel - A Good Woman

42. A Good Woman by Danielle Steel (2008)

Length: 327 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Started: 25 June 2015
Finished: 27 June 2015
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 July 2012
Why do I have it? I like historical fiction and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

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 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+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight