>Legacy by Danielle Steel

fiction

by LindyLou Mac | on December 5th, 2011 | 0 comments

Paperback: 415 pages

Genre: Romantic fiction

Publisher:Corgi 2011 – Part of Transworld Publishers

Source: Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge

First Sentence : ’There was a heavy snowfall that had started the night before as Brigitte Nicholson sat at her desk in the admissions office of Boston University, meticulously going over applications.’

Description From Amazon : One woman’s quest to find her family…and herself.

My Opinion: Enjoyable, quick read.
Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge
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This is my second and final read for the Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge as somehow the other two titles I had picked for some reason or other never reached me! I do not think it was the post, as many other books have reached me. Having picked four titles my first choice was the excellent and evocative The Sandalwood Tree. missing out choices two and three we move on to my fourth and final choice reviewed here today.
It is only because of the Transworld Book Group Reading Challenge that I find myself reading Danielle Steel again as just over two years ago I read and reviewed Sisters claiming that ‘Although I have been reading the novels of Danielle Steel as light relief for over thirty years I am now seriously wondering why I continue to do so. She may be a prolific and popular author but I think the time has come to remove her novels from my wishlist and spend more time reading other authors that I enjoy more’. If I was so disappointed why did I indeed pick one of her titles for the challenge, well I am glad I did as this was so much better. An enjoyable read which I devoured in a couple of days, but I do prefer a book to have more substance to it these days than this provided. Danielle Steel is certainly a very prolific and popular writer with millions of fans and if her books come my way I may well read them from time to time for light entertainment, but they will still not be appearing on my wishlist.
Two female protagonists dominate this story, separated by hundreds of years but sharing family genes. We first meet Brigitte Nicholson the modern day female, actually a somewhat boring character, living a safe and academic lifestyle, that I wanted to shake very early on in the book. Her life is turned upside down unexpectedly and struggling to come to terms with what has happened to her, she agrees to help her mother with a genealogy project, just for something to do initially. Fortunately for the reader the story is not just about Brigitte, she is just the tool the author has used to introduce us to the other female protagonist Wachiwi; whom we first meet in Chapter Six when we are transported from modern day to 1784 and are introduced to this daring young Sioux Indian girl. Her story is one of courage in the face of the unknown and for the rest of the novel it swaps between present and past as we learn Wachiwi’s story both in real time and through the research Brigitte is carrying out in the present day. Brigitte discovers that her family has connections to the French aristocracy and she cannot wait to learn how and why a Sioux Indian should end up in France married to a member of her family. Her boring life at last seems to be changing as she finds herself taking opportunities she would never have thought of considering before embarking on the family research. Her ancestor Wachiwi certainly seems to shake up Brigitte’s life for the better and the story provides the reader with a few hours romantic entertainment.

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