The Duchess – Book Review

**  I have received a proof copy in exchange for an honest review . Thank you so much PanMacmillan India**

Blurb:

The incomparable Danielle Steel breaks new ground as she takes us to nineteenth-century England, where a high-born young woman is forced out into the world–and begins a journey of survival, sensuality, and long-sought justice.

Angelique Latham has grown up at magnificent Belgrave Castle under the loving tutelage of her father, the Duke of Westerfield, after the death of her aristocratic French mother. At eighteen she is her father’s closest, most trusted child, schooled in managing their grand estate. But when he dies, her half-brothers brutally turn her out, denying her very existence. Angelique has a keen mind, remarkable beauty, and an envelope of money her father pressed upon her. To survive, she will need all her resources–and one bold stroke of fortune.

Unable to secure employment without references or connections, Angelique desperately makes her way to Paris, where she rescues a young woman fleeing an abusive madam–and suddenly sees a possibility: Open an elegant house of pleasure that will protect its women and serve only the best clients. With her upper-class breeding, her impeccable style, and her father’s bequest, Angelique creates Le Boudoir, soon a sensational establishment where powerful men, secret desires, and beautiful, sophisticated women come together. But living on the edge of scandal, can she ever make a life of her own–or regain her rightful place in the world?

From England to Paris to New York, Danielle Steel captures an age of upheaval and the struggles of women in a male-ruled society–and paints a captivating portrait of a woman of unquenchable spirit, who in houses great or humble is every ounce a duchess.

Review:

I’m totally in awe of the protagonist Angelique, such mental strength, self-confidence, determination, courage. The era in which this book is set, these traits are rare in women. Beautifully written, I myself could feel the frustration that Angelique was feeling, in spite of being from an aristocratic family, she had to live a lowly life, only because she was neither a first-born nor a son of the Duke. I found myself raging at the hypocritic society that allowed a woman to sit on the throne, because she’s royal and the others can’t even inherit a penny from their father’s earnings.

The storytelling, characterisations, twists and turns were brilliant.

My first Danielle Steel read and I LOVED it.

My Rating: 5/5

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