Mirror Image [Hardcover]

Steel's 46th heartbreaker delves into the seemingly inexhaustible dramatic depths of Titanic lore, idyllic love, and delectable stars. Olivia and Victoria Henderson are beautiful, young, wealthy twins who live in upper-crust Croton-on-Hudson in upstate New York at the turn of the century. Despite their life of ease (playing tennis with the Astors, being courted by a Rockefeller), they do face the daily grind of caring for their beloved Pa, who has never recovered from Mrs. Henderson's death. Then along comes another forlorn widower, sexy Charles Dawson, whose wife perished at sea. "Damn shame she came back on the Titanic," says Mr. Henderson--who doesn't know what the Lusitania has in store for his family. As the plot thickens with the onset of World War I and the suffrage movement, Victoria--the demon seed of the dynamic duo--gets into a spot of trouble. Big enough that dutiful yet daring Olivia must bail her out in a way that it would spoil everything to reveal. If A Farewell to Arms was adapted for TV it might bear a resemblance to Mirror Image. But in Hemingway, or on TV, there were never such devoted sisters. As the narrator puts it, reflecting on the feelings of one sister for the other: "She was her partner, her confidante, her friend, her cohort in all mischief ... the other side of her life, her heart ...the other side of the mirror." --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

To look at one was to see the other. For family, even the girls' own father, it was a constant guessing game. For strangers, the surprise was overwhelming. And for the twins Olivia and Victoria Henderson, two remarkable young women coming of age at the turn of the century, their bond was mysterious, marvelous, and often playful--a secret realm only they inhabited.

Olivia and Victoria were the beloved daughters of a man who never fully recovered from his wife's death bearing them in 1893. Shy, serious Olivia, born eleven minutes before her sister, had taken over the role of mother in their lush New York estate, managing not only a household but her rebellious twin's flights of fancy. Free-spirited Victoria wanted to change the world. She embraced the women's suffrage movement and dreamed of sailing to war-torn Europe. Then, in the girls' twenty-first year, as the first world war escalated overseas, a fateful choice changed their lives forever.

It began when Victoria's life was about to become a public scandal. It led to a painful decision, and brought handsome lawyer Charles Dawson into the Henderson's life and family. Hand-picked by the twins' father to save his daughter's reputation, Charles was still mourning his wife's death aboard the Titanic, struggling to raise his nine year-old son alone, determined never to lose his heart again. Charles wanted to believe that, for the sake of his son, he could make an unwanted marriage work. But in an act of deception that only Olivia and Victoria could manage, the twins took an irrevocable step, which changed both their lives forever; and took one of the twins to the battlefields of France, the other into a marriage she longed for but could not have.

From Manhattan society to the trenches of war-ravaged France, Mirror Image moves elegantly and dramatically through a rich and troubled era. With startling insight, Danielle Steel explores women's choices: between home and adventure, between the love for family and the passion for a cause, between sacrifice and desire. But at the heart of Mirror Image is a fascinating, realistic portrait of identical twins, two vastly different sisters who lead their lives and follow their destinies against a vivid backdrop of a world at war.

A novel that explores one of life's most powerful and mysterious relationships - the bond between identical twins.

To look at one was to see the other. For the family, even the girls' own father, it was a constant guessing game. For strangers, the surprise was overwhelming. And between twins Olivia and Victoria their bond was mysterious, marvellous, and often playful - a secret realm only they inhabited.

Olivia, born eleven minutes before her sister, was shy and serious, while free-spirited Victoria wanted to change the world, and embraced the women's suffrage movement. Then in 1914, the girls' twenty-first year, Victoria's life was about to become a public scandal, and handsome lawyer Charles Dawson was brought in to save her reputation. In an act of deception that only Olivia and Victoria could manage, their lives were changed forever as one of the twins left for the battlefields of France, and the other moved into a marriage she longed for but thought she could not have.

From Manhattan society to the trenches of war-torn France, Mirror Image moves elegantly and dramatically through a rich and troubled era. With startling insight, Danielle Steel explores women's choices: between home and adventure, between the love for family and the passion for a cause, between sacrifice and desire, against a vivid backdrop of a world at war. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Danielle Steel
Danilelle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with over 450 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Lone Eagle, Journey, The House on Hope Street, The Wedding, Irresistible Forces, Granny Dan, Bittersweet, The Klone and I, Mirror Image, The Long Road Home, The Ghost and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death.
--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.