Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Sins of the Mother-Danielle Steel

The Sins of the Mother


Danielle Steel

Delacorte, Oct 30 2012, $20.00

ISBN: 9780385343206



When Olivia Grayson was eighteen years old she went to work at her widowed mother’s local hardware business. She widened the scope and eventually replaced her mom as the CEO of the world wide home products The Factory. Worth billions, Olivia married Joe and had four children with him. While she ignored her kids as they were growing up, Joe and his mom raised them with love.



Now five decades since she joined the Factory, widowed Olivia wants to make amends with her adult offspring and her grandchildren; previous efforts having proven fruitless. With Joe dead from a heart attack and his mom in a nursing home Olivia has no buffer. Olivia arranges a super two-week vacation on a luxury yacht that will sail the Mediterranean. Her two sons (Phillip and John), who work for her look forward to the trip but their wives want out. Her oldest daughter Liz also wants no part of the sailing adventure as anytime she gets together with her mom and siblings, she feels ashamed of what she has done with her life. Finally her other child Cass outright refuses to join the family on any vacation. As the five adults battle their internal demons, the grandchildren enjoy the gala.



The Sins of the Mother is an entertaining dysfunctional family drama starring an ensemble cast that Cecil B. DeMille would be proud of though the exorbitant numbers overwhelm the storyline (keep a scorecard handy to keep score of who’s who). Still the insight into the theory that adult is the child makes for an engaging tale as the four offspring customize the error their matriarch made with them in how they relate to others.



Harriet Klausner



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