Legacy

by Danielle Steel

Someday is Brigitte Nicholson's watchword. Someday she and the man she loves, Ted, will clarify their relationship. Someday she'll have children. Someday she'll finish writing her book. Someday she'll stop playing it so safe...Then something happens that changes Brigitte's life completely. Struggling to plot a new course, Brigitte agrees to help her mother on a genealogy project - and makes a fascinating discovery that reaches back to the French aristocracy. Brigitte decides to travel to South Dakota and Paris to follow the path of her ancestor. And as she begins to solve the puzzle of this exceptional young woman who lived so long ago, her quiet life becomes an adventure of its own. A chance meeting and a new opportunity put Brigitte back at the heart of her own story. And with family legacy coming to life around her, someday is no longer in the future. Instead, someday is now.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Chick Lit, Family, Historical Romance, Ebooks

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's bestselling authors, with almost a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include All That Glitters, Royal, Daddy's Girls, The Wedding Dress, The Numbers Game, Moral Compass, Spy, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Expect a Miracle, a book of her favorite quotations for inspiration and comfort; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children's books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.

Facebook.com/DanielleSteelOfficial
Instagram: @officialdaniellesteel

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another typical Danielle Steel novel, where the heroine finds love and happiness in the end, and never deals with such mundane realities as health insurance, how to make the next mortgage payment, or gaining weight. Instead, Brigette is most concerned about explaining why she stayed in a comfortable (read BORING) relationship and job for so long, and dealing with not having had a kid or two.

The plot is rather thin, as Brigette is canned from her job, and dumped by her boring boyfriend. And although she's been in Boston for at least 10 years, she doesn't seem to have a lot of friends or a support system. So, without much to do, she decides to study her family's geneology, which includes jetting off to Salt Lake City and eventually Paris without any concerns for the ticket costs (clearly Ms Steel's characters don't inhabit the real world!). In Paris, she meets a wonderful, attractive and available Frenchman, who falls in love with her, and the rest is history. The story of Brigette's Sioux ancestors is much more interesting than Brigette's modern day story.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book. Somewhat similar to her other books, but different at the same time. A book about Paris, South Dakota Indians, New York, and Boston, but still a love story. I enjoyed all the information about the Indians and even have started to research my husband's family legacy that includes Blackfeet Indians. The book has stirred me to look into his family tree and bring him up to date with where he comes from.

I would recommend this book to any and all people who like Daniele's books, it gives you a refreshing outlook on her books.

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must not have a great memory. Cannot remember much of this one..

[alterego_bookaholic (Upasana Singh) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a story to reminisce even after i completed the book. Brigette and Wachiwi resembled so much women can do and have been doing through decades and generations. We have so much to learn from history and make those past adventures the learnings of present. Loved this book.

[Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was given to me as a gift by my staff.I have never bought a Danielle Steel book or read one as I didnt think it was my kind of book. But my fellow gift givers thought "women my age" like her books *scatches head here* not sure what they meant by that. So I started to read this book the day after Christmas ( afraid I may get a quiz or something ) and it was pretty good. It starts off with the main charcater Brigitte at the age of 38 being dumped by her boyfriend of 6 years and getting sacked from her job of 10 years.So she takes off to visit her mother in New York and begins to help her mom with her family genealogy project and it leads her to find a mysterious female Sioux ancestor.
So then the story flips from present story to past as Brigitte relates to her past ancestor.
The story/plot was good although at times I found it repetitious. Brigitte finds new direction and meaning in her life and also finds new love. All & all I did enjoy this book.( maybe cause women my age do?) not sure on that one.Would I buy a book by this author? probably not. Would I read another? sure I think I would. A fast read & enjoyable story.

[HÜLYA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hic ummadigim bir define buldum...Çok güzel bir kurgu harika bi roman....
Hem günümüzden hem de 18.Yüzyılın tarihi arasında gidip gelen bir hikaye....
Bir günde hem İzel hem kariyeri tepe Taklak olan Brigittenin hikâyesi...
Annesinin aile soy ağacı için yaptığı araştırmaları devralan Brigitte atalarından birinin Sioux Kızılderili kabile reisinin kızı olduğunu keşfeder..
Bu araştırma onu öylesine fetheder ki kendi yazdigi akademik kitabi bırakarak Parise kadar yolu uzanır...
Tavsiye ederim..
#DanielleSteel
#Kitap

[Alex (Alex's Version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Danielle Steel's departure from her usual style, she delves into the realm of genealogy, offering readers a unique perspective on her storytelling abilities. While the overall story is captivating, the writing itself falls short of expectations. The novel presents two parallel narratives, one set in the present day and the other in the past. Brigitte, the main character in the present day, is portrayed as a wishy-washy individual, educated but lacking ambition, and seemingly unable to make significant progress in her life. Approaching her forties, unmarried, childless, and stuck in a mediocre job at a university, Brigitte's lack of drive and determination is frustrating to witness. Her six-year investment in a failed relationship and subsequent layoff after a decade at her job provide opportunities for her to start anew, but her fear holds her back. Brigitte's lack of backbone and gutsiness is a constant source of exasperation for readers.

However, the novel takes an intriguing turn when Brigitte's mother involves her in researching their family history, transporting readers to the 1700s. This part of the story focuses on one of Brigitte's French "royal" ancestors who marries a spirited Native American woman. It is in this historical narrative that the novel truly shines, drawing readers in and allowing them to overlook the shortcomings of the writing. The potential for an exceptional five-star novel is evident, but unfortunately, the editors seem to have fallen short in their duty to thoroughly edit the writing. Repetition is a prevalent issue, as many readers have noted in Steel's previous works. Additionally, Steel's sentence structure often suffers from choppiness or unnecessary elongation due to the excessive use of the words "and" or "but." Instead of utilizing commas to connect ideas, she frequently begins sentences with these conjunctions, which becomes a source of frustration for readers. The excessive use of "and" and "but" detracts from the overall reading experience and hampers the potential greatness of the novel.

In conclusion, Danielle Steel's exploration of genealogy in this novel offers a refreshing departure from her usual style. While the story itself is captivating, the writing fails to meet expectations. The main character, Brigitte, is portrayed as a lackluster individual, and her lack of ambition and determination frustrates readers. However, the historical narrative set in the 1700s provides an engaging and immersive experience. Unfortunately, the editing of the novel falls short, resulting in repetitive passages and a flawed sentence structure. With more thorough editing, this novel had the potential to be an exceptional five-star read.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the book would have been so much better if it had just been about Wachiwi in the late 1700's. The parts with Brigitte were so boring and repetitious and took away from the best part of the book. Although I loved the first part of the Wachiwi story with Jean, I didn't feel anything between Wachiwi and Tristan, although their love was supposedly so real and deep. I feel the book was way too repetitious and poorly developed. Danielle Steel has been my favorite author for more than 20 years but I am finding her new novels not nearly as good as her older ones. I think there comes a time in everyone's life when they can't do their job as well as they could before and need to retire. It's such a shame when they don't. I'll keep reading all Danielle Steel's books out of habit, but my fondness of her as a writer is going downhill with each new one that I read.

[Catina Martinez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. I'm not sure how this ended up on my bookshelf, but I decided to give it a try. The writing is just awful. If I had a dollar for every time Steel wrote that the protagonist was "without a job or a man," I might be as rich as she is. So there is the blatant repetition, and the drifting between centuries. At one point the main character laments how a relationship can be so easily summed up and ended in a text message and in the next chapter we find her combing through a local phonebook to find an old friend from college. I guess she doesn't know about facebook. Where was the editor for this book? I made it through 100 pages and then tossed it into the goodwill bin.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talvez entre as 2,5⭐️ e as 3⭐️
Achei k a autora se repita mt na escrita e a bem da verdade, a história em si não me cativou

[Christe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down! This is one of the best Danielle Steel books I've read. If you are a genealogy buff, love Native American culture & romance you will absolutely love this book! This story has so much diversity in it, from having everything go wrong to making a fresh start with life when everything changes for the better. It sure leaves you with a feeling of hope, courage & wanting to research your family history to find those most interesting ancestors. What a wonderful book! Kudos to you, Danielle Steel!!! :)

[Carla Faleiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foi a primeira vez que li esta autora. Achava que os livros dela eram o dramaaaa! Mas bem... este não é! Longe disso, é um romance normal e com história à mistura.
Foi uma leitura interessante.

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I love Danielle Steel’s books her style of writing and the repetitiveness occasionally annoys me yet I’ll continue reading her novels as I find her storylines intriguing.

And this was one such book. It held my attention from start to finish. I loved the dual timeline especially the one set in the mid 1700s… Wachiwi’s story was rather fascinating and she was a captivating protagonist. I haven’t read much on Native Americans, or their culture but it has always intrigued me. The present day story featuring Brigitte was also interesting, after her boyfriend dumped her and losing her job she agrees to help her mother on a family tree project, tracing their ancestors to 18th-century French aristocracy. The research takes Brigitte to many libraries which includes traveling to the Mormon library in Salt Lake City, to Paris and Brittany.

An enthralling read about the Dakota Sioux, a French marquis, and a debonair French writer who helps Brigitte with her research.

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2021: #17 - A book with a family tree

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story!

[Terrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very interesting to me because it is the story of a woman, Brigette, who is searching for her ancestory. Her first stop is the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The entire book is very complimentary of the Library, Mormons and the tremendous help she received there. She discovers that her 4th Great Grandmother was a Dakota Sioux who somehow ended up in France. Brigette goes to the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris to continue her search, where she determines that the employees of the Bibliotheque certainly are not as helpful as those at the Family History Library. While following Brigette story line, the author is also running a concurrent story line on Wachiwi, Brigette's 4th Great Grandmother, and how she ends up in France.

While I liked the basic plot, however, I have to admit that I did not really care for Brigette, the main character. She seems spineless and unmotivated and not terribly bright.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started out well and mildly intriguing, but quickly got redundant. Clearly, there was a page quota which had to be filled. Did I say redundant. Let me tell you again how I felt..and then say it again .. It went on and on like that. Only second DS book I've read. Clearly a very bad choice! Or maybe all her books are like this and I didn't see it the first time. I know I skipped pages then too. There were two parallel stories, which sounded intriguing and a good ploy, but it was not. One began three dimensional and ended flat. The other was flat and then flatter.. even as she complained of being boring. And repeated herself again. Redundant

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Danielle Steel book. I definitely enjoyed the historical plotline more than the contemporary one. I really wish Wachiwi’s story was a historical romance novel all on its own. I didn’t really like Brigitte as a main character, she was just very ‘blah,’ and the writing was quite repetitive as well. This was overall a good read, though, and I would read more by Danielle Steel.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Topic was interesting but it was a typical Danielle Steel - interesting but not compelling.

[Irina Marin · Rating 5 out of 5]

O carte foarte frumoasa

Povestea unei familii.

Invatam despre minerit, despre vita de vie...

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐️ DNF

Legacy by Danielle Steel might be the worst book I’ve ever read. Boring, stereotypical, racist, infantilizing, sanitized, fetishizing, and honestly just weird.

I bought this book for $1 last year from Butterfat Books at a bookstore closing sale in Ferndale, California. It was a Blind Date with a Book, with a description that piqued my interest. It was described as a historical romance centered around genealogy and an exciting French ancestor. I love genealogy and quite enjoyed Outlander and its genealogy subplot, so I thought this book could be a good fit.

What the description didn’t disclose was that the book focuses on a woman’s discovery that she had a Dakota Sioux ancestor from the 18th century who eventually travels to the French court. I only got through a few chapters of Steel’s description of this character, Wachiwi, before I had to stop. I was appalled at the way Steel wrote Native American characters; I found them stereotypical and racist. For example, Wachiwi is incredibly infantilized and described as pure and girl-like. She’s portrayed as beautiful but in a mythical way, and Steel repeatedly describes her as “exotic.” She uses really concerning language to describe French and French-American culture, like calling it “the polite world,” and has characters talk about making Wachiwi “suitable.”

I’m just really disturbed by the way Steel wrote these characters. She’s clearly an outsider to these cultures and used many harmful tropes.

The book has the harmful princess trope, where Wachiwi is elevated to a special status to make her seem fantastical while also dehumanizing her. It’s a total white savior story, as she was “rescued” (also kidnapped) by a French traveler, who quickly becomes her lover. While this is supposed to read as a romance, I was just disturbed by the clear power imbalance and Wachiwi’s lack of agency. And her trauma and culture being stripped away from her is tragic.

It’s clear to me that Steel thought she was making the main characters respectable and politically correct, as the villains in the book are evil, racist, misogynistic caricatures. But Wachiwi’s love interest being uncomfortable with slavery and asking enslaved people to assist him politely while visiting his cousin’s plantation is not the good look Steel thinks it is, not when he’s simultaneously expressing outrage that Wachiwi was going to be housed in their quarters and retorting to his cousin that Wachiwi “is not a Black woman. She’s a Dakota Sioux and her father is a chief.”

And oh my god, Steel also tried to make these evil plantation-owning caricatures seem less evil by writing, “Armand de Margerac had a reputation for being kind to them, and most of the time tried to keep families together, which was rarely the case in other homes.” WHAT? MOST OF THE TIME? What is going on in this book?

Wachiwi’s character wasn’t introduced for a while, and I actually got to page 175 before stopping, which was a real feat, though an unnecessary one.

Prior to Wachiwi’s introduction, the book follows the incredibly boring story of main character Brigitte’s life falling apart after losing her job and getting dumped. Brigitte works as an admissions officer for a college and has been doing research on women’s suffrage for years. All the characters around her find it distressing that she’s remained unmarried, childless, and hasn’t done something spectacular with her career yet. For some insane reason, Steel makes it a recurring plot point that all the characters think women’s suffrage is a really boring topic. And Brigitte herself decides that her newfound research project on her “exotic” ancestor is way more interesting than her work on women’s suffrage. Maybe Danielle Steel’s whole thing is dogging on feminism?

My hope is that Steel redeems herself at some point in the book and has a reckoning where the characters realize their attitudes towards Wachiwi were problematic, but I highly, highly doubt that happened.

Beyond being uncomfortable to read, the book was also just really boring and poorly written. The beginning about Brigitte’s backstory was so hard to get through. It was the opposite of show, don’t tell, because Steel kept dryly stating background information that could have been woven into the story.

I knew very early on that this book was bad, but I hadn’t DNFed a book before and thought I’d give it a shot. When I got to the reveal about the main character’s Sioux ancestor, I knew it would be poorly handled, and I thought it could be an interesting case study to dissect all the ways I disagree with the way the book was written. But ultimately it was just so bad I realized there was no reason to put myself through that!

The back cover of my book says “everybody reads Danielle Steel.” I’d suggest it should be the opposite. I don’t think this book would have any value to any person except someone doing research on problematic representations of Native Americans in literature.

[Sana · Rating 1 out of 5]

SOUTH DAKOTA

This was my first novel by Danielle Steel. I hated it... it seems like it was mocking history.
The sentences were repetitive...I grew tired of hearing about Brigitte being unemployed and boyfriend-less and Wichiti being strong and independent...

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story of a brave young woman who taught a relative centuries later how to take a chance.

[Agustina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 y media

[Kaileigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book consistently ignored the “show me don’t tell me” rule

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brigitte has lost her boyfriend of six years and her job of ten years, all within a short period of time.
Feeling terrible, she decides she needs to visit her mother in New York City. Her mother is very into researching the family tree and somehow convinces her daughter to help with the research as she has hit a brick wall. Brigitte isn't too happy about this but since she has nothing else to do, she decides to help with the research by traveling to different areas. I found this to be a delightful and interesting story.

[Gloria ~ mzglorybe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was fantastic, the writing was not. You have two stories in one novel here. Present day and past. Brigitte is the present day main character. She is a wishy-washy, educated but unambitious woman who has nothing to show for her education or her choices in life. She is unmarried, nearing 40, no kids, a mediocre job at a university and writing an uninteresting novel for several years that she is bored with. She has invested 6 years with a guy who dumps her, she gets layed off after 10 years at her job, and she can start over, but is afraid to. She has no back-bone or gutsiness. One just want to shake her sometimes. Her mother gets her involved in researching her ancestry, which takes us readers to the second part of this novel which begins in the 1700's. It involves one of Brigette's French "royal" relatives who marries a Native American feisty young woman. I loved that part of the novel, more than the present day. It just draws you in and you start overlooking the way the words are put together.

This could have been an awesome 5-star novel, if the editors had done their job and really edited the writing. A lot of it is repetitious, as many have commented on her previous novels. Many of Steel's sentences are either choppy or elongated, by the words "and" or "but." She often begins sentences with those words, instead of inserting a comma in there. It drove me nuts. I can't tell you how many times I lined out (in pencil of course) her Ands and Buts. The sentence didn't need them. It could stand on its own. It made the read frustrating, whereas it could've been great. I was urged to read this by someone close to me, so I did, but I was painfully reminded why I don't read Steel anymore.

[Rexy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly thought I wouldn't enjoy this novel when I read the synopsis but I'm happy to report I thought wrong.

I don't know what it is about American Indian storylines that don't make them my cup of tea but 'Legacy' was an exception. I enjoyed the American Indian period storyline interwoven with the modern narration. The facets of culture imbued in the book were very interesting and wasn't overwhelming unlike what I initially presumed. I relished reading about the life of Wachiwi just as much, or possibly even more so, than the life of her modern-day descendant Brigitte.

The two women, though family; are very different. I'm inclined to think Danielle Steel wanted to write about two contrasting characters-one daring and unafraid of taking risks, the other cautious and wary. She succeeded and weaved a novel that spanned two generations roughly 200 years apart that tells the world there might be nothing wrong with taking leaps of faith.

The only things I dislike are(1) the slow pacing of events and (2) the limited storytelling. It took quite long for me to immerse myself in the book and when I was finally in it, some scenes I expected to be written more thoroughly felt cut off.

..and yet, this book is filled with just about everything I enjoy in a DS novel- drama, romance, adventure, and a handful of unexpected twists and burst of emotions. It contains all the elements I like to think a life should have and all the things I enjoy reading:)

[Jonne Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book but struggled between giving a rating of three or four. It has a great plot in which the current day character, Brigette, finds her comfortable world turned upside down by the loss of both her long time boyfriend and a job she has held for 10 years. At her mother's urging she agrees to delve into some research in her mother's longtime passion, the family's genealogy, which had always bored her to death in the past.

Her research starts with the Mormon Library in Salt Lake, Utah where the information found leads her to first South Dakota and then France. She becomes intrigued by an Souix Indian Princess named Wachiwi and the story of how she ended up marrying a French nobleman. Along the way she finds herself, a new love, and a new job.

My struggles with rating the book center on the authors penchant for repeating material already presented, especially at the beginning of the book and a general lack of depth. However it was a very light and enjoyable read.

[Amber Gorman-korn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been many years since I have read a Danielle Steel novel, so when I started Legacy I was in for a great surprise. Ms. Steel has always been a good author, but with this book, I feel she has transformed into an amazing author.

I loved how the story started with Brigitte, and the changes and that she was facing after a ten year slump. (I don't want to ruin the book for anyone by giving anything away) After a visit with her mother she is guiltily asked to help research some of their family history, where she falls in love with a Sioux Indian girl by the name of Wachiwi who is her Great....Grandmother. Ms. Steel takes the reader back and forth between Brigitte and her search for her information on Wachiwi, and Wachiwi's story.

I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone I know.