Journey - Softcover

Steel, Danielle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440243769 ISBN 13: 9780440243762

Publisher: Dell, 2006

Synopsis

Everyone knows Madeleine and Jack Hunter. Maddy is an award-winning TV anchorwoman. Jack is the head of her network. To the world, theirs is a storybook marriage. But behind the doors of their lush Georgetown home a different story emerges.

Maddy has always tried to deny Jack’s subtle put-downs, control, and jealousy. She has no bruises, only the daggers of fear, humiliation, and isolation — as powerful as the gun or the fist, the wounds as deep. It seems impossible that a woman the nation idolizes lives in degradation and fear. Maddy’s secrets are well kept, even from herself.

Maddy’s healing begins when she joins the First Lady’s Commission on Violence Against Women. There, she hears eerily familiar stories from terrified wives and girlfriends. And there she comes to know Bill Alexander, a distinguished diplomat. Bill suspects that something is terribly wrong in Maddy’s marriage and begs her to open her eyes.

As she takes the first steps toward freedom, a remarkable series of events unfolds ... a stranger from Maddy’s past reappears ... White House headlines bring the nation to a standstill ... and a devastating tragedy forces Maddy to realize how much has been taken from her. Faced with the most difficult choice of her life, Maddy finds a strength she never knew she had and a gift that will change her life forever.

With wisdom and compassion, bestselling novelist Danielle Steel reminds us that no one is exempt from the effects of abuse, in its subtlest forms. But at its core, Journey is a book about hope, about change, and about daring to be free.

About this title

Review

It's amazing to think that Journey is Danielle Steel's 50th novel. What's even more amazing is the high standard she has maintained throughout all her books: when an author is this prolific, there is usually a falling off in inspiration, but Steel seems able to add new elements to each book that keep the level of invention fresh. Journey uses elements familiar from earlier Steel bestsellers, but manages a totally novel spin on the private problems of a very public marriage.

Madeleine and Jack Hunter are one of Washington's glittering couples. Jack is the head of a TV network, while Maddy is an award-winning anchorwoman. All around, people regard them as a golden couple: he advising the president on media issues, she at the top of the tree in her profession. Needless to say, the relationship we are shown behind the closed doors of their lavish Georgetown home is far more troubled than the public could ever know. As Maddy enjoys more and more career success, Jack's resentment and desire for control grow daily, and her life becomes hell in this fracturing marriage. Steel manages, as always, to convey character in concise paragraphs:

The diamond studs and her eight-carat engagement ring were her prize possessions. Not bad for a kid from a trailer park in Chattanooga, she often admitted to him, and he called her "poor white trash" when he wanted to really tease her. It was obvious that he thought calling her that was funny...

When Maddy joins the president's wife in the latter's newly formed commission on violence against women, the grim stories she hears from other terrified wives start her on a journey which will help her break the cycle of fear she is living through. Steel makes this situation resonate with a strong emotional impact, and the dark marriage is painted with the kind of skill we have come to expect from her. When Bill Alexander, a high-flying scholar and diplomat, enters the narrative and realizes what is happening in Maddy's marriage, the story is taken to a powerful new level, with their growing affection treated intelligently and sympathetically. --Barry Forshaw

From the Publisher

6 1.5-hour cassettes

About this edition

• Publisher: Dell
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0440243769
• ISBN 13: 9780440243762
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384