Coming Out »

Danielle Steel has become more of a legend than any one of her books, which never fail to make the bestseller lists. Something of Steel's refinement and gentility transfers to her prose as her heroines enjoy enviable triumphs over inevitable tragedies.

Olympia Crawford Rubinstein has a way of managing her thriving family with grace and humor. With twin daughters finishing high school, a son at Dartmouth, and a kindergartner from her second marriage, there seems to be nothing Olympia can’t handle…until one sunny day in May, when she opens an invitation for her daughters to attend the most exclusive coming-out ball in New York–and chaos erupts all around her.

For Olympia’s husband, Harry, the idea of a blueblood debutante ball is abhorrent. Her daughter Veronica, a natural-born rebel, agrees–while identical twin, Virginia, is already shopping for the perfect dress. Then there’s Olympia’s ex, who sees the ball as the perfect opportunity for a family feud. Amid everything, Olympia’s college-age son, Charlie, is facing a turning point in his life and will need his mother more than ever. But Olympia is determined to steer her family through the event–until, just days before the cotillion, things begin to unravel with alarming speed.

From a son’s crisis to a daughter’s heartbreak, from a case of the chickenpox to a political debate raging in her household, Olympia is on the verge of surrender . . . until a series of startling choices and changes of heart, family and friends, turn a night of calamity into an evening of magic. As old wounds are healed, barriers are shattered and new traditions are born–and a debutante ball becomes a catalyst for change, revelation, acceptance, and love.

Publishers Weekly

In her 67th novel (following May's The House) bestselling author Steel (more than 530 million copies sold) fashions a plot around a single event: an invitation to a debutante ball in New York City. Attorney Olympia Crawford Rubinstein manages to juggle a challenging full-time job; a loving relationship with her second husband, Harry (an appeals court judge who is her former law professor ); the care of their five-year-old son, Max, and her three older children from a previous marriage. Olympia's first husband, Chauncey, is a stereotypical, upper-class snob, with no job but a passion for playing polo. Harry, son of Holocaust survivors, champions liberal causes. When Olympia's teenage twin daughters, Veronica and Virginia, are invited to an exclusive "coming out" ball, everyone's lives are thrown into turmoil. Most of the book revolves around the arguments and disagreements spurred by the invitation, and Steel appears overly didactic as she tries to pump life into the simplistic setup: Olympia's Jewish mother-in-law, Afro-American law partner and gay older son are trotted out like polo ponies at auction. Steel's metier is glamour and romance; her attempt to deal with social injustice falls flat. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.