Danielle Steel

Danielle Steel CD Collection 4: Big Girl, Family Ties

Publisher Marketing:"Big Girl"Victoria Dawson has always felt out of place in her family, especially in body-conscious L. A. Her father, Jim, is tall and slender, and her mother, Christina, is a fine-boned, dark-haired beauty. Both are self-centered, outspoken, and disappointed by their daughter s looks. While her parents and sister can eat anything and not gain an ounce, Victoria must watch everything she eats, as well as endure her father s belittling comments about her body and see her academic achievements go unacknowledged. Ice cream and oversized helpings of all the wrong foods give her comfort, but only briefly. The one thing she knows is that she has to get away from home, and after college in Chicago, she moves to New York City. Behind Victoria is a lifetime of hurt and neglect she has tried to forget, and even ice cream can no longer dull the pain. Ahead is a challenge and a risk: to accept herself as she is, celebrate it, and claim the victories she has fought so hard for and deserves. Big girl or not, she is terrific and discovers that herself. "Family Ties"Annie Ferguson was a bright young Manhattan architect. Talented, beautiful, just starting out with her first job, new apartment and boyfriend, she had the world in the palm of her hand until a single phone call altered the course of her life forever. Overnight, she became the mother to her sister s three orphaned children, keeping a promise she never regretted making, even if it meant putting her own life indefinitely on hold. Now, at forty-two, as independent as ever, with a satisfying career and a family that means everything to her, Annie is comfortable being single and staying that way. She appears to have no time for anything else. With her nephew and nieces now young adults and confronting major challenges of their own, Annie is navigating a parent s difficult passage between lending them a hand and letting go, and suddenly facing an empty nest. The eldest, twenty-eight-year-old Liz, an overworked, struggling editor in a high-powered job at Vogue, has never allowed any man to come close enough to hurt her. Ted, at twenty-four a serious and hardworking law student, is captivated by a much older, much more experienced woman with children, who is leading him much further than he wants to go. And the youngest, twenty-one-year-old Katie impulsive, artistic, rebellious is an art student about to make a choice that will lead her to an entirely different world she is in no way prepared for but determined to embrace. Then, just when least expected, a chance encounter changes Annie s life yet again in the most unexpected direction of all. From Manhattan to Paris and all the way to Tehran, "Family Ties" is a novel that reminds us how challenging and unpredictable life can be, and that the powerful bonds of family are the strongest of all." Contributor Bio:  Steel, Danielle Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world s most popular authors, with over 600 million copies of her novels in print. Her many international bestsellers include Prodigal Son, Pegasus, A Perfect Life, Power Play, Winners, First Sight, Until the End of Time, The Sins of the Mother, Friends Forever, Betrayal, 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, A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless, and Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved. Contributor Bio:  Various The Marvel and Other Short Stories is a collected anthology of six short stories written by the winners of the Austin Macauley World Book Day short story competition. Contributor Bio:  Gigante, Phil Phil Gigante is an APA Audie Award winner (The Dark Highlander, The Stainless Steel Rat, and The Watch That Ends the Night), and winner of over a dozen Audiofile Magazine Earphones Awards. He has narrated and directed more than 250 books, and was twice named a "Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense" by Audiofile Magazine. He has been named a Best Male Narrator in the categories of Romance, Science Fiction, Militaria, and Mystery/Suspense, as well as "Favorite Dual Narrator" (with Natalie Ross). Phil also works in film, TV and radio, and is the Producer/Director of Gigantic Productions theatre company. He makes his home in the Midwest. Contributor Bio:  Bond, Jim Bond is a producer and host of radio talk shows, with an extensive background in theatre and the musical stage. Contributor Bio:  McInerney, Kathleen Kathleen McInerney has narrated numerous audiobooks by bestselling authors such as Emily Giffin, Danielle Steel, Jeffrey Stepakoff, Mary Kay Andrews, and Linda Castillo. Her narration of "Just One Day" by Gayle Forman won an "AudioFile "Earphones Award. In reviewing Mary Kay Andrew's "Ladies' Night", "AudioFile" magazine said, "McInerney makes each of the characters distinct and recognizable and gives each the perfect voice, accent, and vocal mannerisms. Most enjoyable and well performed." She has appeared onstage in New York and around the United States in both classical and contemporary theater. Her credits also include television commercials, daytime drama, radio plays, and animation voice-overs. Contributor Bio:  Ericksen, Susan Susan Ericksen, an Audie Award and "AudioFile" Earphones Award winner, has recorded many audiobooks, including "Naked in Death" by J. D. Robb.