Miracle - Danielle Steel

The blurb on the cover of this book says: "a story to make you laugh, cry and care" - how true!

We meet Quinn Thompson aboard the yacht "Victory" where he has spent three months after the loss of his wife, Jane. His reason for chartering the boat for such a long period of time was to give himself the time he needed - to think and recover from his loss. Throughout this time Quinn spends time reading his late wife's ...
...as well as he had believed. And due to his perceived selfishness he is consumed with regrets that he left his wife and family to pursue his business interests too often - though his wife had always supported, adored and loved him in this (and this is confirmed through her writings) and he realises his estranged daughter Alex hates him for the exact same reasons.

Also whilst aboard the chartered boat he realises he has fallen in love ... more

The blurb on the cover of this book says: "a story to make you laugh, cry and care" - how true!

We meet Quinn Thompson aboard the yacht "Victory" where he has spent three months after the loss of his wife, Jane. His reason for chartering the boat for such a long period of time was to give himself the time he needed - to think and recover from his loss. Throughout this time Quinn spends time reading his late wife's poems and journals and discovers that he didn't know her as well as he had believed. And due to his perceived selfishness he is consumed with regrets that he left his wife and family to pursue his business interests too often - though his wife had always supported, adored and loved him in this (and this is confirmed through her writings) and he realises his estranged daughter Alex hates him for the exact same reasons.

Also whilst aboard the chartered boat he realises he has fallen in love with the idea of buying another boat. Quinn has not owned a boat since his son died in a sailing accident 23 years previously. He is told of a boat that is for sale - goes to see the boat - discusses what changes are required - buys the boat and agrees a work timeframe then heads back to San Francisco (from Holland) - Quinn is nothing if not decisive!!

Quinn returns just before Thanksgiving to the house he shared with his late wife and keeps himself to himself until the "storm of the century" hits California on New Year's Eve.

In the aftermath of the storm Quinn comes into contact with his neighbour (both their homes were damaged in the storm) - Maggie Dartman - who herself is recovering from her own losses and employs a carpenter - Jack Adams - to make repairs to Quinn's house and also additional work so that Quinn can get his house in shape to sell it. Jack, too, has a painful secret.

What starts as a business relationship between Quinn and Jack soon turns into a relationship based on mutual trust and respect with Quinn becoming something of a mentor for Jack. they start to share their Friday evenings together at Quinn's home when eventually Jack asks if they can include Quinn's neighbour Maggie in their Friday evenings (as by this time Jack is also doing some work for Maggie and has gotten to know her somewhat).

Although Quinn agrees he is somewhat reluctant at first................ However through their shared Friday dinners they learn about each others losses and secrets and as well as becoming friends they become almost like a little family.

Quinn has always been honest with his friends about his intention to sell his house and sail off around the world though this doesn't stop Quinn and Maggie falling in love with each other.

Danielle Steel guides us through the highs / lows / joys / losses and achievements of thee three characters until I was hoping that Quinn would change his mind about leaving............... he doesn't!!

Instead he reconciles with his daughter (with some urging to do so from Maggie) and he leaves his friends behind and sails off "to atone for all that he couldn't change now". Though when his boat sails into a large and very dangerous storm Quinn has an epiphany that leads to the ending I was hoping for.

I liked all three main characters in this book - each one bought something different to the party and I had sympathy/empathy for each of them.

Quinn was a great character though I felt he was far too hard on himself after the loss of his wife - throughout the book there are references to the poetry and journals written by his wife and how much she had loved him throughout their marriage though he found this difficult to come to terms with due his own perceived selfishness. There were times in the book that had he been standing in front of me I would have shaken some sense into him (though I would have had to been standing on a chair to do this)!!

Initially Maggie was lost and after everything she had been through this was no surprise - it was great to see her come back to life with the help of Quinn and Jack and even knowing that she was going to lose Quinn eventually she still allowed herself to fall in love with him :) Though I was willing her to ask him not to go - it was good to see she had more pride than to ask (and in the end it turned out well for both of them).

As for Jack - initially I thought Jack & Maggie would get together as they were closer in age but it wasn't to be. Jack held his own secret that he shared with Quinn and this allowed their relationship to grow and I found it interesting to watch the relationship between the two men flourish in a fatherly/son way.

All in all if you're a Danielle Steel fan this is a short and easy read with likeable characters and it will - as the blurb says - make you "laugh, cry and care" - enjoy!! 

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