Book of the Month
July Pick
Jen’s Review
A MOTHER’S LOVE written by Danielle Steel
In A MOTHER’S LOVE, Danielle Steel masterfully brings to life an extraordinary woman who is resilient and hopeful despite her past traumas.
At the center of the novel, Halley Holbrook spends her life working to overcome painful losses only to find herself alone in Paris where her purse is stolen with all of her money, her passport, and her phone.
Suddenly, she is triggered back to the helpless little girl who was trying her best never to see herself as a victim.
This premise is so relatable, so human.
It shouldn’t be thrilling and shocking to read about characters who fight to do the right thing, but in the world of literature, it is one of the most exhilarating things you can write.
So often, novels drag a reader through toxic and terrible relationships only to ask the reader to side with the toxic forces - or at least to feel badly for them.
I love and appreciate that Steel does not go down this path. She exposes the vulnerabilities of her characters in order to allow us to walk with them through their healing, their hope, and their more fully realized selves.
A MOTHER’S LOVE demonstrates how our minds can be both our best friend and our worst enemy.
Even as dangerous twists and turns drive the plot of the stolen bag, you will find yourself surprised at every turn as Halley fights to be the person and the mother she desires to be.
By Jennifer Morrison / July 2025
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About The Author
Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel has written over 218 books, fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s books. She has sold a billion copies of her books internationally and is published in as many as 40 countries and languages. Every one of her books is a best seller. She publishes 7 books a year in the US and UK.
Steel has been in the Guinness Book of World Records for having at least one of her books on the New York Times’ bestseller list for 381 consecutive weeks. She wrote her first book at nineteen.
21 Television movies and miniseries have been made from her books, and she wrote the lyrics in French and English for an album of songs in 2013 called Love Notes.
She is involved in the world of Contemporary Art, had a Contemporary Art gallery in San Francisco for 5 years, is a passionate collector, and still does art and design work herself.
In 2002, Steel was decorated as ‘Officier’ of the ‘Ordre des Arts et des lettres’ in France for outstanding literary achievement. And in 2014 she was decorated with the ‘Legion d’Honneur’ as ‘Chevalier’ for lifetime achievement, France’s greatest honor.
Of European parents, Steel was educated in French schools, and spent much of her youth in France, with French as her first language. She attended New York University and Parsons School of Design.
Steel founded and runs two non-profit foundations, The Nick Traina Foundation and Yo!Angel! dedicated to mental illness, homelessness, and the prevention of suicide and child abuse, and has won many awards for her work with the mentally ill. She spent eleven years on the streets, running a street outreach team to assist and equip the homeless in San Francisco.
She lives in Paris and San Francisco and is the mother of 9 children.
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