Family Ties-Danielle Steel

Family Ties
Danielle Steel
Delacorte, Jun 22 2010, $28.00
ISBN: 9780385343169

Twenty-six year old architect Annie Ferguson looks forward to starting on her new job and living in Manhattan with her boyfriend Seth. As she is euphoric and confident about the changes in her life, she thought nothing about her vow to be the guardian of her two nieces and nephew she made to her sister Jane. That is until Jane and her husband Bill die in a plane crash, so Annie raises the three preadolescent children (Liz, Ted and Katie). Seth cannot deal with the change so ends their relationship.

Sixteen years later, Annie raised her wards with love while running a successful architectural firm. Ted attends law school, Katie is studying design at college; and Liz is a globetrotting Vogue editor. When Annie sprains her ankle, she goes to the emergency room where she meets TV news anchor Tom. Katie drops out of Pratt to work at a tattoo parlor while traveling to Teheran with her Iranian-American boyfriend Paul. Liz's French lover Jean-Louis seems back with his former lover Francoise, the mother of his child. Ted has a tryst with his older law professor, but when he tries to end their sexual relationship, Pattie stabs him in the hand.

This intriguing family drama is an enjoyable contemporary as the aunt of the three orphaned children proves she is A Good Woman when she takes over raising them with the deaths of their parents. The tale contains way too much angst keeping the four subplots from gelling into a cohesive story line, but instead competes for the lead. Still fans will enjoy Danielle Steele’s latest as the strong cast makes the case that family is the ultimate proof of chaos theory.

Harriet Klausner