The Gift (Steel novel)

The Gift

File:The Image Of The Front Cover Of Danielle Steel's The Gift.jpg
Author	Danielle Steel
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Delacorte Press
Publication date	July 1994
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	216 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	0-385-31292-X (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	29703045
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 20
LC Class	PS3569.T33828 G5 1994

The Gift (1994) is a novel by author Danielle Steel. It is the story of a family in the 1950s coming to terms with the death of a child, that leaves them distorted and broken. (Spent 12 weeks on the Publisher's Weekly best seller list) It is Steel's 33rd best-seller that is characterized by simplicity and power.

Plot

The setting of the novel is in the 1950s in a small town. Maribeth Robertson, raised in a Christian household gets taken advantage of on prom night by a star athlete who is getting married to his popular on-and-off girlfriend after graduation. Maribeth's father is displeased by what she has done and sends her away to live with nuns until her baby is born and can be placed up for adoption. She is told that she can come back home once her baby is gone. Her mother doesn't have a say in the matter and never disagrees with her husband, and so he gets his way. At the convent, she feels afraid and lonely, and leaves to get on a bus with a one-way ticket. She finds herself in a small college town where she will touch the lives of a family who has suffered a great loss, and gives them the greatest gift of all.

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