Malice: A Novel - Softcover

Steel, Danielle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440223237 ISBN 13: 9780440223238

Publisher: Dell, 1997

Synopsis

In her 37th bestselling novel, Danielle Steel tells the compelling story of a woman who must struggle to overcome a shattering betrayal, and the cruelest kind of malice.

At seventeen, the night of her mother's funeral, Grace Adams is attacked. It is not the first time, and a brutal crime ensues.

And to everyone's horror, Grace will not tell the truth. She is a young woman with secrets too horrible to tell, with hurts so deep they may never heal. She is also beautiful enough for men to want her no matter how much she does not want them. Whatever the outcome, Grace Adams will have to live with whatever happened during those terrible years. After a lifetime of being a victim, now she must pay the price for other people's sins.

From the depths of an Illinois women's prison to a Chicago modeling agency to a challenging career in New York, Grace must carry the past with her wherever she goes. And in healing her own pain, she reaches out to battered women and children who live a nightmare she knows all too well.

When Grace meets Charles Mackenzie, a New York lawyer, she has found a man who wants nothing from her-except to heal her, to hear her secrets, and to give her the family she so desperately wants. But, with happiness finally within her grasp, and precious loved ones to protect, Grace is at her most vulnerable-in danger of losing everything to a vicious tabloid press and an enemy from her past, an enemy bent on malice at all costs.

With rare insight and power, Danielle Steel writes this extraordinary woman's story, portraying her struggle to triumph over malice and betrayal, and to transform a lifetime of pain into a blessing for others. Revealing both the stark reality of domestic abuse and the healing power of love, Malice, is more than superb fiction. It is a piece of life.

About this title

Review:

Only veteran author Danielle Steel can make dysfunction this fashionable! In Malice, her 37th potboiler, the gloves come off. Life is no fairy tale for teenager Grace Adams. The preternaturally quiet and dowdy daughter of Watseka's favorite son, lawyer John Adams, and his lovely, cancer-stricken wife Ellen, Grace has an ugly little secret that she's kept for four years. When her father brutally rapes her following her mother's funeral, Grace kills him. Only 17 years old, she faces the death penalty in a town all too willing to perpetrate the fiction of John Adams, even when it means prison for Grace. Upon release two years later, Grace heads for Chicago where life starts looking up when she finds a job as a receptionist in a downtown modeling agency. Unfortunately, Grace encounters an unscrupulous photographer and a slimy parole officer. As soon as her parole is over, Grace escapes again, running to New York City to disappear among the hordes. Working as a secretary in a law firm, she's asked to work for a partner. After a rocky start, Charles Mackenzie and Grace establish a comfortable routine. But when Grace is brutally beaten by the husband of a woman in the crisis center where she volunteers, Charles is at her side constantly, arranging for the finest medical care and talking her out of her coma. Love blooms as Grace slowly recuperates. Finally whole again, inside and out, Grace and Charles marry and start a family. Life couldn't get much better as Charles enters politics and Grace tends to their growing family. But when tabloids release the story of Grace's sordid past and explicit photos of Grace taken while she was drugged, their family is left reeling, with Charles's campaign in shambles and Grace's life crumbling around her. Danielle Steel doesn't even pretend that Malice is a piece of romantic fiction, but loyal fans will happily make the transition as she charts a new course! --Alison Trinkle

From the Back Cover:

One extraordinary woman’s struggle to triumph over malice and betrayal. On the night of her mother’s funeral, Grace Adams is attacked. A young woman with secrets too horrible to tell, Grace will not reveal the truth about what happened. After a lifetime of being a victim, she must now pay the price for other people’s sins. From a small town in Illinois to the depths of a women’s prison; from a Chicago modelling agency to a challenging career in New York, Grace carries the past with her wherever she goes. When Grace meets Charles Mackenzie, she finds a man who wants nothing from her – except to heal her and to give her the family she so desperately wants. But with happiness finally within her grasp, Grace is at her most vulnerable – in danger of losing everything to an enemy from her past, an enemy bent on malice...

About this edition

• Publisher: Dell
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0440223237
• ISBN 13: 9780440223238
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 406