Copyright © 1999 by Danielle Steel Published by Delacorte Press Paperback © 2000
From Danielle Steel’s first book “Thurston House,” to her latest, “Journey,” I believe I have read every book that Steel has ever written. Her stories are delightful and usually something that I can relate to. “Granny Dan,” is such a book.
During childhood, I had a very special relationship with my grandmother. The title of Steel’s book piqued my interest. What had been so special about “Granny Dan?” Why would Steel wish to write a story about a grandmother?
The book jacket answered a few of my questions. It especially left me wanting to know more of “Granny Dan.” The synopsis intrigued me. I just had to read this book!
Book Jacket Excerpt
“In my eyes she had always been old, always been mine, always been Granny Dan. But in another time, another place, there had been dancing, people, laughter, love… She had had another life before she came to us, long before she came to me… She was the cherished grandmother who sang songs in Russian, loved to roller skate, and spoke little of her past. But when Granny Dan died, all that remained was a box wrapped in brown paper, tied with string. Inside, an old pair of satin toe shoes, a gold locket, and a stack of letters tied with ribbon. It was her legacy, her secret past, waiting to be discovered by the granddaughter who lover her but never really knew her. It was a story waiting to be told.”
The book takes Granny Dan’s granddaughter back to 1902. A new century had just begun. A seven-year-old motherless girl arrives at a ballet school in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ten years later, Danina Petroskova is a great ballerina who is often invited to dance for the Czar and Czarina.
War! Suddenly the ground on which Danina dances shakes with unrest. This war, a serious illness and the man who was her doctor changed the course of her life forever.
When the Revolution shattered her country, Danina was forced to make a decision that ripped at her heart.
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