A Good Woman: a Novel: novel

✍ Scribed by Steel, Danielle

• Publisher: Dell;Random House Publishing Group
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 171 KB
• Edition: Reissue
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

From the glittering ballrooms of Manhattan to the fires of World War I, Danielle Steel takes us on an unforgettable journey in her new novel—a spellbinding tale of war, loss, history, and one woman’s unbreakable spirit....**

Nineteen-year-old Annabelle Worthington was born into a life of privilege, raised amid the glamour of New York society, with glorious homes on Fifth Avenue and in Newport, Rhode Island. But everything changed on a cold April day in 1912, when the sinking of the Titanic shattered her family and her privileged world forever. Finding strength within her grief, Annabelle pours herself into volunteer work, nursing the poor, igniting a passion for medicine that would shape the course of her life.

But for Annabelle, first love, and a seemingly idyllic marriage, will soon bring more grief—this time caused by the secrets of the human heart. Betrayed, and pursued by a scandal she does not deserve, Annabelle flees New York for war-ravaged France, hoping to lose herself in a life of service. There, in the heart of the First World War, in a groundbreaking field hospital run by women, Annabelle finds her true calling, working as an ambulance medic on the front lines, studying medicine, saving lives. And when the war ends, Annabelle begins a new life in Paris—now a doctor, a mother, her past almost forgotten…until a fateful meeting opens her heart to the world she had left behind. Finding strength in the most unlikely of friendships, pulling together the broken fragments of her life, Annabelle will return to New York one more time—this time as a changed woman, a woman of substance, infused with life’s experience, building a future filled with hope…out of the rich soil of the past.

Filled with breathtaking images and historical detail, Danielle Steel’s new novel introduces one of her most unique and fascinating characters: Annabelle Worthington, a remarkable woman, a good woman, a true survivor who triumphs against overwhelming odds. For Annabelle’s story is more than compelling fiction, it is a powerful celebration of life, dignity, and courage—and a testament to the human will to survive.

From the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Nineteen-year-old Annabelle Worthington, the only daughter of a wealthy New York banker, weathers a life of unexpected catastrophe with superhuman patience in Steel's solid latest. After her father and brother die in the sinking of the Titanic , Annabelle and her mother go into mourning, and Annabelle marries the kindly older banker Josiah Millbank. After two years of unconsummated marriage, he reveals that he's contracted syphilis and wants a divorce so he can join his male lover. When Annabelle refuses to divorce him, Josiah files for it on the basis of adultery, forcing Annabelle, now the victim of vicious rumors, to flee New York. Alone in Paris, she draws on her experience volunteering at Ellis Island to pursue a career as a doctor as WWI looms. Steel toys with the premise of a modern woman, though the characterization of Annabelle as a good woman who has been dragged through the mud somewhat mitigates her strength and elemental stubbornness. Steel's fans will eat this up—Annabelle is one of the better protagonists Steel's conjured recently. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Annabelle Worthington, 19, lives a fairy-tale life thanks to wealthy and doting parents. Then she gets the flu and is unable to accompany her family on vacation. Unfortunately, the Worthington clan has booked passage on the newest luxury liner, the Titanic. Her father and brother die when the ship goes down, and although her mother, Consuelo, survives, she is traumatized. As for Annabelle, she throws herself into work as a medical volunteer at Ellis Island. There she meets Josiah Millbank, a gentle, loving man who’s old enough to be her father, and marries him. But Josiah has a scandalous secret, and after their divorce, Annabelle is unfairly relegated to life as a pariah. Embarrassed and disillusioned by the treatment she receives from her acquaintances and so-called friends, Annabelle leaves for war-torn France to put her medical skills to good use in a female-run hospital on the front. But fate has even more in store for Annabelle. Once again, the legendary Steel, with 570 million books sold, has combined triumph and tragedy to create the story of a woman who, though tossed by the whims of fate, still manages to survive on her own terms. --Shelley Mosley

✦ Subjects

A Novel