NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Danielle Steel fearlessly tackles a
catastrophe and its aftermath with characters who are joined together by
accident, then share their vulnerabilities, regrets, losses, and
hopes.
Hurricane Ophelia is bearing down on New York City. And in a matter of
hours, six people, along with their families, friends, and millions of
other New Yorkers living around them, will be caught up in the horrific
flooding it unleashes.
Ellen Wharton has flown into New York from London, regardless of the
weather and her husband's worry. The successful interior designer is
intent on seeing her lively architect mother and has an important
personal appointment to keep. But despite Ellen's urging, when the storm
hits, seventy-four-year-old Grace Madison refuses to leave her Tribeca
apartment in the midst of the evacuation zone, and they must eventually
wade through chest-high water to the police boats outside.
British investment banker Charles Williams is traveling on business but
is also eager to see his young daughters, who live with his beautiful,
estranged ex-wife in SoHo. Desperate to find them, he checks the
shelters where thousands have taken refuge and runs into Ellen and her
mother.
Juliette Dubois, a dedicated ER doctor, fights to save lives when the
generators at her hospital fail.
NYU students Peter Holbrook and Ben Weiss, living in a shabby downtown
walkup, are excited by the adventure of the approaching hurricane,
refuse to evacuate, and settle in with junk food and beer until their
building threatens to collapse. Should they swim for it or not?
A day of chaos takes its toll. Lives, belongings, and loved ones are
swept away. Heroes are revealed as the city and New Yorkers struggle to
face a natural disaster of epic proportions. And then the real challenge
begins, as the survivors face their futures, with damage to repair and
scars to heal.
Keenly observed and brilliantly told, this is an unforgettable story
that proves that while life can change in an instant, even the darkest
storm can bring forth courage, resilience, unexpected joy, and new life.
And it reminds us all that nature, at its fiercest, is a powerful force
nothing and no one can resist.
