At the start, Steel seems to nick Barbara Cartland's preserves:
lovely lass is wooed by English duke. But, here, the lass is a
divorced American, and the duke has no wicked gleam in the eye.
Once they're wed, it's Steel puff-pastry romance time. There's a
stretch of true love and noble sacrifice during WW II in France,
then troubles with bothersome offspring, the blossoming of a family
jewelry business - and, of course, luxury digs and great duds.
Sarah is in Europe - with her divorce from a playboy drunk already
in the works - when she meets William, Duke of Whitfield, 14th in
line to the throne. William falls in love, but how could Sarah say
yes right after Edward VIII had to abdicate (in 1936) to marry a
Divorced Woman, and thereby plug up William's conduit to the crown?
Love wins, however, and Cousin Bertie (George VI) gives his
blessing. No doubt royalty cares - it's the ex-king and his bride
who get word to Sarah in her French chateau during WW II to tell
her that William is missing in action. By this time Sarah has had
two children, one (whom she will lose) delivered by the decent
German officer in charge of requisitioning her house. The war ends.
Will William return? Of course he will, and then Emanuelle, the
village girl, suggests that the Whitfields help the refugees by
buying their jewels. What a grand idea! Soon, though, jewels are
piling up everywhere. Why not open a store! Wonderful! Eventually,
the four surviving children will be involved: stuffy heir Phillip;
kind Julian; headstrong Isabelle; jaunty Xavier. Except for the
last, all marry disastrously, recoup, and produce kids. At the
close, now-widowed Sarah beams on all at her 75th. Much of this
airy nonsense is background - thin and threadbare (Steel does best
on home shores). But fantasies with dukes, jewels, and French
chateaux - plus the Steel name - can be counted on to shoot off the
shelves. (Kirkus Reviews)
A journey through five eventful decades, Jewels, Danielle Steele's twenty-ninth work of fiction, is the story of a family whose lives are woven into the fabric of history.
On the eve of Sarah Whitfield's 75th birthday, she stands at the window of her chateau in France, waiting for her family to join her. Her memories take her back to the 1930s in New York, to her early marriage and subsequent shameful divorce. She is persuaded by her parents to join them on a trip abroad in the growing turmoil of pre-war Europe.
There she meets William, Duke of Whitfield. Older than Sarah, and fourteenth in line to the British throne, he sparks her intellectual curiosity and makes her laugh. They make their home in a beautiful crumbling French chateau until they are parted by the war. Afterwards they are able to return to the chateau and establish the jewel collection which leads to the House of Whitfield, jewellers to the crowned heads of all Europe. Together they produce a family of four, each of whom is drawn into the family business.
Jewels is the story of a great house of gems, a rare family, and an extraordinary marriage. Once again, Danielle Steel explores the lives of people facing challenges we recognise as our own, against the backdrop of war, passion and international intrigue.
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