DESTINY

by Sally Beauman ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1987

This goopy, far-fetched but generously entertaining and likable romantic fiction--the story of star-crossed lovers who turn out to be related--may well put first-novelist Beauman on the fast track with the likes of Krantz and Collins. Paris, the late 50's: The Baron Edouard de Chavigny is a handsome, ruthless, lonely young widower who runs a massive wine and jewelry empire and yearns for meaning in his life. He finds it when he meets Helene Craig, a 17-year-old American student visiting Paris in the company of a couple of film students (Helene looks like a cross between Grace Kelly and an angel, and wants to get into show biz). Edouard and Helene move in together, but after a short time Helene discovers she's pregnant by her old high-school lover (but she's just counting wrong: Helene is a little flaky and has identified the wrong dad) and leaves. Thus begins a decade-long separation. Helene has her child, marries a callow young Ivy League producer, becomes an enormous star, dreams of Edouard. Meanwhile, Edouard uses his vast wealth and power to manipulate Helene's career from afar: too proud to ask her to come back to him, he's waiting for her to realize her mistake. In the end, she does, and by 1970 they're a happily married couple, living in rural France, with children--Helene has even retired from the movies. And then one day. . .Edouard goes through some old papers belonging to his long-dead brother Jean-Paul (a dissolute ne'er-do-well who sowed a lot of wild oats) and discovers that Helene is Jean-Paul's illegitimate daughter--and his own niece. Knowing that this information would destroy Helene (not to mention their children), Edouard tactfully--and quite romantically--finds a way to keep the truth an eternal secret. Despite its doorstop length (over 800 pages) and galaxy of subplots, this is a well-paced novel, with humor as well as sex and suds. An auspicious debut, indeed.

Pub Date: April 1, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bantam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION