COMING OUT
DANIELLE STEEL
ISBN#978-0-440-24207-9
May 29, 2007
Dell Books,Imprint of Random House,Inc.
1745 Broadway, New York, New York 10019
Paperback
$7.50 U.S./$9.99 CAN
224 Pages
Fiction
Rating: 4 Cups

Olympia Crawford Rubenstein is a successful partner in a law firm specializing in civil rights law and class action suits. Juggling her four children, three college bound teenagers from a previous marriage and a five year old, a husband who is a judge on the court of appeals and a malicious ex-husband has her frazzled most days but happy anyway. When her twin girls are invited to The Arches Cotillion, an archaic coming out ball for blue-blooded society members, she is thrilled but her Jewish husband is not. He thinks it is discriminatory against those not on the social register which excludes Jews and Blacks. She has nine months to soften his opinion. Will she succeed?

Harry Rubenstein loves his wife Olympia and their children dearly but his stand against discrimination comes from his parents being Holocaust survivors and their sacrifices to enable him to thrive in America. Knowing Olympia’s ex-husband expects his girls to participate in this rite of passage, he does not forbid them from going but he personally will not attend. When a war of words breaks out over the participation, his wife and himself are quite surprised. The politically correct Veronica refuses to go while Virginia is thrilled to be invited. Their older brother Charlie tries to mediate between them and five year old Max can not understand what they are coming out of. When his own mother tries to convince him to lighten up and get over himself, he continues to stand strong. He is convinced that we must all stand for something or fall for anything. Will he change his mind?

As the months dwindle away and the event creeps closer, Olympia grows more convinced each day that Harry will not attend the ball, their twin girls are finally ready to participate and Charlie has something on his mind that bothers him immensely. The week before the ball, she wakes up with a cold, Max contracts the chicken pox, one of the twins comes down with Bronchitis and Frieda, Harry’s mother breaks her ankle, all this occurs during Mother Nature’s contribution of a blizzard. Will anything turn out right for the ball?

Ms. Danielle Steel has written a warm story of grace under fire. I have read many of her books and this is just one more example of her genius. I loved the real life portrayal of life’s many trials and tribulations faced by working mothers everywhere. Facing age old prejudices and tolerating change is handled with great aplomb by the heroine while the hero is steadfast in his righteous indignation until the end when he softens in the face of family pressure and for family harmony. I loved the quirky minor characters and the typical teenage angst is portrayed realistically. Ms. Steele has another winner on her hands.

Kathy
Reviewer Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books