The Long Road Home, Danielle Steel
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The Long Road Home

Narrator: Tony Fusco

Abridged: 5 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/05/2000


Synopsis

Bestselling novelist Danielle Steel takes us on a harrowing journey into the heart of America's hidden shame in a novel that explores the power of forgiveness, the dark side of childhood, and one woman's unbreakable spirit.

From her secret perch at the top of the stairs, Gabriella Harrison watches the guests arrive at her parents' lavish Manhattan townhouse.  At seven, she knows she is an intruder in her parents' party, in her parents' life.  But she can't resist the magic.  Later, she waits for the click, click, click of her mother's high heels, the angry words, and the pain that will follow.  Gabriella already knows to hide her bruises, certain she is to blame for her mother's rage--and her father's failure to protect her.  Her world is a confusing blend of terror, betrayal, and pain.  Her parents' aristocratic world is no safeguard against the abuse that knows no boundaries, respects no person, no economic lines.  Gabriella knows that, try as she might, there is no safe place for her to hide.

Even as a child, her only escape is through the stories she writes.  Only writing can dull the pain of her lonely world.  And when her parents' marriage collapses, Gabriella is given her first reprieve, as her father disappears, and then her mother abandons her to a convent.  There, Gabriella's battered body and soul begin to mend.  Amid the quiet safety and hushed rituals of the nuns, Gabriella grows into womanhood in a safe, peaceful world.  Then a young priest comes into her life.  

Father Joe Connors never questioned his vocation until Gabriella entered the confessional and shared her soul.  Confession leads to friendship.  And friendship grows dangerously into love.  Like Gabriella, Joe is haunted by the pain of his childhood, consumed by guilt over a family tragedy, for which he blames himself.  With Gabriella, Joe takes the first steps toward healing.  But their relationship leads to tragedy as Joe must choose between the priesthood and Gabriella, and life in the real world where he fears he does not belong, and cannot cope.

Exiled and disgraced, and nearly destroyed, Gabriella struggles to survive on her own in New York.  There she seeks healing and escape through her writing again, this time as an adult, and her life as a writer begins.  But just when she thinks she is beyond hurt, Gabriella is once again betrayed by someone she trusts.  Brought to the edge of despair, physically attacked beyond recognition and belief, haunted by abuse in her present and her past, she nonetheless manages to find hope again, and the courage to face the past.  On a pilgrimage destined to bring her face-to-face with those who sought to destroy her in her early life, she finds forgiveness, freedom from guilt, and healing from abuse.  When Gabriella faces what was done to her, and why, she herself is free at last.  

With profound insight, Danielle Steel has created a vivid portrait of an abused child's broken world, and the courage necessary to face it and free herself from the past.  A work of daring and compassion, a tale of healing that will shock and touch and move you to your very soul, it exposes the terror of child abuse, and opens the doors on a subject that affects us all.  The Long Road Home is more than riveting fiction.  It is an inspiration to us all.  A work of courage, hope, and love.


From the Hardcover edition.

Author Bio

Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel was born on August 14, 1947 in New York. Her father was a descendant of the Lowenbrau beer family and her mother was the daughter of a diplomat. She studied both literature and fashion design, first attending the Parsons School of Design and then New York University, graduating in 1967. Danielle Steel is currently the bestselling author alive today, and the fourth bestselling author of all time with over 650 million copies of her books sold. Steel has written 129 books, 93 of which were novels, primarily romance. Every one of her novels has achieved best seller status. She has been published in 69 countries and in 43 different languages. She has had 22 of her novels adapted for television movies and two of those received Golden Globe nominations. Danielle releases three new novels a year and works on multiple books at a time, often as many as five at once.

Steel has been married five times and although she is currently divorced, she is a strong believer in marriage and family. An only child, she discovered the joys of a big family as a child through one of her friends. She has nine children (seven biological and two stepsons that she has always considered her own) that are her greatest accomplishment. Her joy in life is her children and she speaks of them frequently on her website and her blog. Many of her books have been dedicated to one or more of her children. She was based in California for most of her career and now lives in both San Francisco and Paris.

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