Ghost (limited edition)
- Book Review,
by DANIELLE STEEL
Amazon.com
Architect Charles Waterston has a job he loves, a charming and beautiful wife, and an idyllic life in London. But when everything comes crashing down around him--his wife leaving him for another man and his sudden transfer back to the New York home office--Charles takes a well-deserved ski vacation in Vermont. When an unexpected snowstorm strands Charles in a small town, he takes refuge in a small bed-and-breakfast. The proprietor, an elderly widow, also owns a family home in the woods, which Charles decides to rent. Soon after moving in, Charles senses a ghostly presence. While investigating in the attic one day, Charles discovers the diary of Sarah Ferguson, who left her abusive husband in England for a better life in the New World. Charles soon finds himself drawn to Sarah, and he even visits the local historical society in an attempt to learn more about her. There he meets lovely, timid Francesca Vironnet, the historical society curator and librarian, who has fled France with her young daughter. Through Sarah's journals and Francesca's kindness, Charles is able to heal his heart and learn to love again. Complete with Steel's trademark poignancy but minus the glitz and glamour so evident in many of her novels, The Ghost is an outstanding read.
From Library Journal
Charlie Waterston thought he had it all?a beautiful wife, happy marriage, and brilliant architectural career?but a year changes all that completely. London, his job, and the lovely house he and his wife shared all become unbearable after she leaves him for another man. The alternative, working for his firm's main office in New York, turns out to be equally unbearable, so he flees it all, escaping to Vermont ski country. A sudden snowstorm en route, a night's refuge at a bed-and-breakfast owned by a charming old woman, and his discovery of the 200-year-old diary of a brave and beautiful lady teach him to endure his own sufferings, reach out to others, and hope for love and happiness again. Fans expecting Steel's (Malice, LJ 1/96) usual glitz and glamour may be disappointed by this elegiac tribute to mature love hard won the second time around.-?Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Two love stories are intertwined in The Ghost. In the present are Charles, an architect with a love of history, and Francesca, a shy art historian. Both have been emotionally wounded by their spouses and are seeking solace. Their lives are influenced by the ghost of Sarah Ferguson, who escaped an abusive husband in England in 1789 and met her heart's love in New England. Joe Grifasi brings each character to life with a quiet voice and steady reading. His voice disappears into the background as Charlie reads Sarah's diaries and the past comes alive. Although the ghost never speaks in her own voice, her diaries and presence, portrayed in gentle words, heal Charlie and Francesca. M.B.K. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Kirkus Reviews
In her 41st novel (Special Delivery, p. 751, etc.), Steel weaves touches of the paranormal into a historical romance. Charlie Waterston's marriage is kaput. His perfect wife of ten years suddenly tells him that their life has been empty and that she wants a divorce. In shock, Charlie--an American architect working in London--returns to the States and takes a six-month sabbatical to recover. Out on the road on a snowy night just before Christmas, he takes shelter at a bed and breakfast in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. He and the owner (one of Steel's benevolent older women) really hit it off. She then offers to rent him a house bequeathed to her by her grandmother: a perfect small chateau on a nearby lake built in 1790 for Sarah Ferguson, the Countess of Balfour, by her lover Fran‡ois de Pellerin, a virile French count who spent much of his time on the frontier with Indians. Sarah, who had been badly abused by her husband, and had given birth to several dead babies, ran away to America to make a new life. Charlie begins to read her journals, and one night, entering his bedroom, he believes that he sees her ghost. Steel parallels chapters about Sarah's ordeal with the Earl of Balfour and her love affair with Pellerin, with chapters about Charlie's romance with Francesca Vironnet, a modern-day historian emotionally damaged by a bad marriage. Charlie finds Sarah's journals to have a hypnotic rhythm and a story so captivating that ``he wanted to sit in one spot until he finished all of them''--a description of a style that sounds a lot like Steel's, or at least what she intends. No amount of spellbinding rhythm can make up for an overlong romance. Despite the usual Steelian menu of love, pain, and compassion, most fans will figure out the ending long before they get to it--and could probably supply the cadences as well. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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