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Pegasus

Danielle Steel

3.99 · Rating details · 4,598 ratings · 473 reviews

This is a story of courage, friendship, and fate as two families face the challenges of war... and the magnificent stallion that will link them forever.

Nicolas von Bingen and Alex von Hemmerle, titled members of the German aristocracy, have been best friends since childhood. Both widowers, they are raising their children — Nick’s two lively boys and Alex’s adored teenage This is a story of courage, friendship, and fate as two families face the challenges of war... and the magnificent stallion that will link them forever.

Nicolas von Bingen and Alex von Hemmerle, titled members of the German aristocracy, have been best friends since childhood. Both widowers, they are raising their children — Nick’s two lively boys and Alex’s adored teenage daughter — in peace and luxury on the vast Bavarian estates that have belonged to their families for generations. While Nick indulges in more glamorous pursuits, Alex devotes himself to breeding the renowned white Lipizzaner horses that enthrall audiences throughout Europe with their ability to dance and spin on command, majestic creatures whose bloodlines are rare and priceless.

But it is Nicolas’s bloodline that changes everything, when his father receives a warning from a high-ranking contact inside the Wehrmacht. A secret from the past has left the family vulnerable to the rising tide of Nazism: Nick’s mother, whom he never knew, was of Jewish descent.

Suddenly Nicolas must flee Germany, wrenching his sons away from the only home they have known, sailing across the Atlantic for a new life in America. Their survival will depend on a precious gift from Alex, their only stake for the future: eight purebred horses, two of them stunning Lipizzaners. In Florida, where Nicolas joins the Ringling Brothers Circus, he becomes Nick Bing, with Alex’s prize white stallion — now named Pegasus — the centerpiece of the show.

Pegasus tells the story of a family reinventing itself in America, while the country they left behind is engulfed in flames and madness, and men like Alex von Hemmerle are forced to make unbearable choices. Alex’s daughter will find sanctuary in England. In America, Nick will find love, his sons will find a future, and their left-behind world will eventually find them. A novel of hope and sacrifice, of tragedy, challenge, and rebirth, It is a brilliant family chronicle that unfolds across half a century—a masterwork from one of our most beloved writers. ...more

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published October 28th 2014 by Delacorte Press (first published 2014)

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· 4,598 ratings · 473 reviews

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Jan 26, 2016 Rebbie rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: People I hate with the passion of a thousand suns.

Shelves: 2016

No, Danielle Steel. Just no. You do not get to churn out this silly drivel and expect me to keep my mouth shut. This is the last time you make a mockery out of me.

Danielle Steel loves 3 things in over abundance:

1. Sentence fragments.

2. Creepy old dudes marrying women far too pretty and young for their nasty asses.

3. Stating "So 'n So felt sorry for him/ her." In.every.single.book. Seriously, who wants a "friend" like that? You can take your superior attitude and sticky it up your nasty bits, or ...more

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Jan 12, 2015 Kelsi rated it it was ok

Shelves: dnf, meh

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS AND VERY ANGRY RANTS REGARDING THIS BOOK. IF YOU ARE ROMANCE AND DANIELLE STEEL FANS, I URGE YOU TO STEER CLEAR OF THIS REVIEW. THANK YOU.

1.5 stars. 1 star because it was crap, .5 because it had the horse in it.

Now, let's get started. First off, I hate romance. Why am I reading a Danielle Steel book then? Well, honestly, I'm a sucker for covers with horses on them, and, before a family member helpfully pointed it out, I didn't even know who Danielle Steel ...more

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Mar 07, 2015 Wendy rated it did not like it

This is one pretentious, awfully written, piece of shit. I saw it at at the library and laughed when I read the insert: "In a rich historical novel of family and World War II, #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel unfurls a powerful saga that spans generations and continents. This is a story of courage, friendship, and fate, as two families face the challenges of war . . . and the magnificent stallion that will link them forever." No. This is leagues worse than a Lifetime movie, it ...more

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Jan 01, 2015 Shawn rated it it was amazing

Wow this book was so good, but I definitely recommend some tissue. This is a tear jerker,eye opener about the German war involving Hitler vs.. The Jews. I was so angry with some of things that happened in this book,,Steel did such a good job making the reader experience this awful part if history. I was in the edge of my seat for half this book. It was sad though and now I need a pick me up book! I am never disappointed with Danielle Steel books!

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Jan 11, 2015 Alison McDonough rated it really liked it

I'm always a sucker for a horse story!

But why DS? Why? Why did Alex have to do that? ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Lauren Stoolfire rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance

Nick and Alex are titled members of the German aristocracy and have been best friends since childhood as they have grown into men with families of their own. They are accustomed to lives of luxury on their Bavarian estates. Everything Nick knows changes after the Nuremberg Laws are passed and as Hitler's ideals take greater sway over the German people. A secret that his father has kept from him his entire life forces him to take his sons and flee to America to save themselves from labor camps. T Nick and Alex are titled members of the German aristocracy and have been best friends since childhood as they have grown into men with families of their own. They are accustomed to lives of luxury on their Bavarian estates. Everything Nick knows changes after the Nuremberg Laws are passed and as Hitler's ideals take greater sway over the German people. A secret that his father has kept from him his entire life forces him to take his sons and flee to America to save themselves from labor camps. To get there, he takes a job with the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus based in Sarasota, Florida with a horse act. Alex generously allows Nick to take some of his famous Lipizzaner and Arabian horses and teaches him the basics of training them for show. Eventually, under the name Nick Bing, Nick and his star Lipizzaner, Pegasus, become a star attraction at the circus. Nick also finds love with a tight-rope walker named Christianna who is half his age.

Pegasus is the second novel I've read by Danielle Steel. I wasn't planning on reading another, but a book club I'm in is reading the novel, so, of course, I had to check it out. Honestly, I preferred Echoes, the first book I read. Her newest novel just feels too over-arching and I would have liked to read a more focused story on Nick himself during wartime (at least once he gets to America, that is). If the story were more focused, I believe it could also be much more interesting as a whole. I didn't actually begin to get interested in the story until about twenty pages in when Nick learns the truth about his mother. I would have actually liked to get a full book on that - that could have been a very interesting Downton Abbey-esque story of scandal and coercion. I would have liked to see a more detailed account of the circus, as well.

As for the characters of Nick and Christianna and the rest of the cast, they're alright (if a bit one-dimensional), but none of really stood out to me. I just wasn't invested in them. The romance between Nick and Christianna was sweet, but it seems like every ten seconds he's telling her what she can and cannot do in regards to her act, and that got old fast. And, the 22 year age gap is just a little too much for me, especially when Nick has children just slightly younger than his love interest. The ending of the novel is rushed to tie things up too neatly by condensing approximately sixty years of family history in the final chapter or so.

Overall, I found Pegasus to be boring and predictable, suffering from far to much telling rather than showing. But, hey, it does have a beautiful horse on the cover! If Pegasus were a shorter, more tightly woven, character-driven novel that could show me the struggles the characters face and actually make me care, then I probably would have rated it much higher. Even a book that focused on the history (fictional or real) of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus would have received a better rating. If you generally enjoy the formula that has made Danielle Steel famous, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, or like horses, you may also like Pegasus. My suggestion: Skip Pegasus altogether and read Water For Elephants instead, or even watch the movie because it's actually pretty good.

Note: Is it just me or did anyone else think of Shadowfax, the lord of all horses, when they saw the cover for the first time?

...more

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Dec 07, 2014 Lynn rated it really liked it

Danielle Steel doesn't write a lot of historical novels these days, but when she does, they are always wonderful. Pegasus is no exception. Set against the backdrop of the 1940's and Nazi Germany, it tells the story of two close friends, and the extraordinary breed of horses that were bred by one of them, and saved the life of the other.

Alex and Nick were born and bred to be aristocrats, and not much else. Living on neighboring estates, their days were taken up with riding, hunting, and in Alex' ...more

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Apr 29, 2015 Karyn rated it did not like it

No, it didn't take me this long to read this drivel, I have just wanted to block it out of my memory. It was super repetitive, poor sentence structure, didn't leave me wanting more after each chapter, I didn't care about any of characters and it could have ended about 50 pages earlier. I don't know why Danielle Steele gets such good reviews until someone pointed out to me that most of her fans aren't big readers and have nothing to compare it to, so to them, this is Shakespeare. I can now say th ...more

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Nov 01, 2014 Jane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Another wonderful book by this great author. The Nazi Germany background made for a wonderful thought-provoking storyline. I was not expecting the last chapter and will reread it again because I loved it so much!

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Apr 20, 2018 Christian West rated it it was ok

Shelves: e-book, 50-horses-2018

I've never read a Danielle Steel book, so apologies for this review if you are a fan. Also the book needed a rant so sorry about the length of the review.

This book follows the lives of two aristocratic German families during World War 2 and how they survive through the war when they are spread across the globe.

The first two chapters were absolute rubbish. I only persevered after them because I am reading 50 horse books through 2018 and I hadn't yet read one aimed at adults. I am glad I persevere I've never read a Danielle Steel book, so apologies for this review if you are a fan. Also the book needed a rant so sorry about the length of the review.

This book follows the lives of two aristocratic German families during World War 2 and how they survive through the war when they are spread across the globe.

The first two chapters were absolute rubbish. I only persevered after them because I am reading 50 horse books through 2018 and I hadn't yet read one aimed at adults. I am glad I persevered though as the story (and writing style) got much better when one of the families fled to America (view spoiler). Unfortunately the pacing of the book was inconsistent, and although Steel wrote lots of backstory for some of the characters, she then seemed to forget about them for hundreds of pages and then kill them off. I swear that about 2/3 of the way through writing the book, she looked at her notes and went "damn, I forgot about those people, I must do something about that" so just randomly inserted paragraphs describing how they'd lived a good life and then got shot by Nazi's/blown up in a plane/went missing at sea. Then characters who were in no way needed in the story *cough* Lucas *cough* seem to live on and on, possibly because they had no point so didn't deserve a paragraph of doom.

I couldn't work out if this book was supposed to be a romance (fail, one character marries two people, but the poor beaus get about a page of backstory each before either being killed or ignored, whilst another character marries a girl who he falls in love with because he got scared for her, oh and she's 20 but looks about 14 so eww) or a multi-generation saga about two aristocratic families (fail, too much plot spent on two characters who both get unceremoniously dumped from the book when the plot gets too hard and the rest of the book turns into a genealogical exercise that I cared nothing for).

I'd suggest skipping chapters 1-2, and skipping the last 2-3 chapters and just focus on the story during the actual war. Also at least one of the characters in the first 5 chapters is going to be ignored for the rest of the book and then die for no reason, so be prepared for that. All the people who get proper death scenes don't have any backstory though so you won't care about them. Also, 2-3 years mysteriously vanish and everyone grew up in one of the chapters. It's like when one of those soap operas on TV decide that having a story with babies isn't good enough so they just replace them all with teenagers over a weekend and you get very confused.

Positives: I learned some things about World War 2, there was a picture of a horse on the cover, I kept calling their famous horse breed "Lipschitz" in my head and singing the song from Chicago every time they were mentioned
Negatives: pacing, inconsistent writing style between chapters, the plot couldn't decide what it wanted to be, characters had amazing stories written about them in the initial chapters and then got ignored, there were characters in there with no point except to progress the story (including husbands, siblings and children), you won't need any tissues as the deaths in the book only happen to people who were there to further the plot, or are so far removed from any part of the book that they were actually in.

I don't believe I'll read another Danielle Steel. 2 stars only because part of the middle was enjoyable. ...more

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Mar 15, 2015 Jean Owens rated it did not like it

I haven't read a Danielle Steel book in over 20 years and this one reminded me why.

This is the most poorly edited book I have ever read. It is full of run-on sentences, sentence fragments and incoherent paragraphs. I would suggest Ms. Steel slow down and write one book at a time so that she can remember what she has written and maybe then won't repeat herself over and over and over and over... If this book was actually edited, then shame on the editor. If Delacorte Press decided that a Danielle ...more

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Dec 20, 2014 Sheila rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book starts out in the mid to late 1930's in Germany where adult friends Alex and Nicholas lead the aristocratic life on beautiful horse farming estates. Alex breeds and trains the famous Lipizzaner Stallions for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Their lives are about to change in ways they can't imagine as Hitler comes to power.

Nicholas gets a total shock when his father informs him that not only did Nicholas' mother NOT die in childbirth when he was born, but that she was also 1/2 Jewi ...more

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Jul 25, 2015 Cheryl rated it it was amazing

Beautiful book. It seems so many on Goodreads are so critical of Danielle Steel's books, but I love her books, always have. My tastes are so broad in the different books I read, and I find her books refreshing, touching, and many full of families caring for one another. This had the added feature of the horses, the Lipizzaners. Set right before WWII, through WWII, in both Europe and the United States, I felt the anguish of the families and the very difficult choices that had to be made. Absolute ...more

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Mar 12, 2015 Kathy D. rated it liked it

Shelves: adult, audiobook, year-2015

3.5 stars. Good, but the whole thing felt a bit rushed, too easy, and superficial. People fell in love within a few pages and had no real obstacles to being together. The relationships were trouble free. People lost loves and gained new ones within a few pages. It all felt like an outline, albeit an entertaining one. The ending was sweet and tied things up well. A nice piece of fluff to cleanse your brain between dystopias.

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Mar 28, 2015 Sandy rated it liked it

Normally I don't read Danielle Steel anymore; however this caught my eye because of the name and then when I opened the fly in the book, it said a man who had to leave Germany because he found out he had Jewish blood and the Nazi's would be coming for him and his two sons. His friend gave him two Lipizzaner horses and six other pure bred Arabian's. I was hooked. The book did not leave me
disappointed. A good read. ...more

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Mar 26, 2015 Jackie rated it it was ok

This was repetitive and in numerous cases grammatically incorrect. I will never again read a book by Danielle Steel.

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Aug 04, 2015 Misty Aucoin rated it it was amazing

This was AN AMAZING book!

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Jan 21, 2015 Parichita Gupta rated it really liked it

Another gripping story just like The Ring!

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Aug 08, 2017 Hailey Higgins rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 28, 2020 Crystal rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: danielle-steel

what an awesome read from Danielle Steel. Set in the 30s with World War 2 as the backdrop, two friends discover asecret and make the decision to do what they must to survive. this separates them and takes them on different paths. This book was one of the best Steel novels I have read since the Ring though in some ways better because it involves more people than just one family. Highly recommend this book.

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Dec 11, 2019 Roxy added it

Shelves: dnf

I wonder if her name wasn’t attached to this, would it have even been published?

I suppose I’ve always been a critic of Mrs. Steel. Just because she can write several books in a year doesn’t mean they’re spectacular. *shrug*

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Feb 16, 2018 Rita Chapman rated it liked it

Easy to read combining romance, sorrow and heartbreak. I enjoyed it because of the involvement of the horses.

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Dec 17, 2018 Erin Frost rated it liked it

I felt like an idiot explaining the plot to someone.

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May 26, 2017 Kim Grandizio rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, war

Yeah, I'm done with Danielle Steel. Get a better ghostwriter for Christ's sake! ...more

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Apr 25, 2017 Tanya Boulter rated it did not like it

after reading the reviews I'm a little scared to read this. ds hasnt written anything good in about the last 30years. but here goes....
well I should have taken notice of the reviews, this is bad, and I mean really bad. ds repeats herself soooo much you can skim read and still follow the story. I gave up when nick meets christianna and tells her how she should be living.
such a shame because the blurb sounds so interesting.
gave this 1 star wish I could give it less! ...more

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Mar 05, 2018 Margie rated it liked it

This an okay read. A wealthy father and his two sons need to leave Germany when it is discovered they are considered Jewish. Hitler is committing terrible crimes against the Jewish people during the 1930s and 1940s and taking all their property and many of their lives. Though the family does escape to America, there's little money but through their horses, that they managed to get out of Germany, they are able to start to rebuild their lives in a circus. ...more

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Nov 08, 2014 Pearl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Pegasus written by Danielle Steel for me was a another fantastic read from an author who certainly knows how to create characters that me as a reader cared for them from the first page.
Why I loved this book so much was mainly because of the marvellous characters especially Nick who at the beginning of the book is living a life of comfort and pure indulgence, that is until the moment he finds out the true facts of his birth which will lead him and his family to flee from Germany a land he loved a Pegasus written by Danielle Steel for me was a another fantastic read from an author who certainly knows how to create characters that me as a reader cared for them from the first page.
Why I loved this book so much was mainly because of the marvellous characters especially Nick who at the beginning of the book is living a life of comfort and pure indulgence, that is until the moment he finds out the true facts of his birth which will lead him and his family to flee from Germany a land he loved and also a land he was blessed with a noble title, which will mean nothing in the following years of his life. . Nick’s life will never be the same again as in Germany he was named Count Nicholas von Bingen, in his new life in America he is plain Nick Bing and he will soon be the star of the circus.
When Nick hears of his true parentage he knows he has to leave Germany to save not only his own life but those of his sons and for me this is when the story really begins and as we get to know the other characters this truly was not only a book of survival but one where Nick has to accept his fate and make the best of things. Nick’s life is saved with the help of his friend Alex who remains in Germany but Alex gives him a gift of life when he gives him eight horses but these are no ordinary horses they are of the famous Lipizzaner’s plus Arabians which will take Nick on a quest to make a new life. The Lipizzaner’s are the noble horses which are famously trained in Spanish Riding School in Vienna Austria, they are well known as not only horses of beauty but those who produce the dressage movements namely “airs above the Ground”. Reading of the special blood lines and the heritage of the horses through this wonderful book of fiction was truly fascinating as Danielle Steel certainly has a love and a respect for these horses of unique speciality.
Alex stays in Germany with his daughter Marianne while Nick and his boys escape from Hitler and his cruel new regulations Nick narrates his own story as does each of the characters, I also love how the author showed what life was like back in Germany as we hear Alex’s own story along with Marianne narrating their own story and theirs was as heart-breaking yet full of bravery as Nick’s own story is. This is one fascinating book which showed Germany at its worst time in history though through Alex and Nick I learned that not all of Germany believed in Hitler’s principles and of course there is always good and bad in both sides.
Danielle Steel is a gifted author and for me she is the Queen of Romance, as always the book is a love story which is laced with heartache and of course she has used a cruel but factual time in history and not only wrote a wonderful work of fiction but one which I learned from.

Pegasus written by Danielle Steel is a work of fiction laced with historical facts which I am happy to recommend to other readers of historical fiction. This truly is a work of hope, bravery and of course love which will lead these characters in so many paths their lives will never be the same again. ...more

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Nov 11, 2015 Pam rated it really liked it

AUTHOR: Steel, Danielle
TITLE: Pegasus
DATE READ: 09/20/15
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS Fiction/2015/Random House/340 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: SA
CHARACTERS AUTHOR: Nick Bing/horse trainer
TIME/PLACE: 1930's to present
FIRST LINES: It was already nightfall when the stable boys heard the horses approaching.
COMMENTS: One of Steel's better books, I always think she does the historicals very well. Nicholas von Bingen aka Nick Bing is a German aristocrat. He has never worked and just ove ...more

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Feb 27, 2015 Kate Vale rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-romance

The cover suggested the book was about horses, who intrigue me. It was, but only as a vehicle for moving people out of danger. What kind of danger? The growing menace of Hitler's hatred for the Jews in Germany in the late 1930's. To get his best friend and two sons out of danger when it is discovered that his wife was half-Jewish, Alex gives Nicolas two Lippizaners and six Arabian horses and they leave for America to become part of the Ringling Brothers circus. Somewhat later, Alex' own daughter ...more

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Nov 03, 2014 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

World War II is on the brink but although Hitler has started to take power, the Bavarian countryside feels shielded from the storm. Best friends Nicolas and Alex are born to privilege but have faced tragedy in both losing their wives to illness. Despite having means, it's a challenge raising their children alone.

As Hitler increases his hold over the country, Nicolas' true ancestry is revealed which forces his family to flee his home. His life-long friend steps in and gives his prized Lipizzaner ...more

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About Danielle Steel

Danielle Steel

10,023 followers

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 ...more