Safe Harbour
by By Steel, Danielle
Category: Fiction , Romance , Contemporary

In her fifty-ninth bestselling novel, Danielle Steel tells an unforgettable story  of survival...of how two people who lost everything find hope...and of the extraordinary  acts of faith and courage that bring —and keep— families together...  On a windswept  summer day, as the fog rolls across the San Francisco coastline, a solitary figure  walks down the beach, a dog at her side.  At eleven, Pip Mackenzie's young life has  already been touched by tragedy; nine months before, a terrible accident plunged  her mother into inconsolable grief.  But on this chilly July afternoon, Pip meets  someone who fills her sad gray world with color and light.  And in her innocence  and in his kindness, a spark will be kindled, lives will be changed, and a journey  of hope will begin.  From the moment the curly-haired girl walks up to his easel  on the sand, Matt Bowles senses something magical about her.  Pip reminds him of  his own daughter at that age, before a bitter divorce tore his family apart and swept  his children halfway across the world.  With her own mother, Ophélie, retreating  deeper into her grief, Pip spends her summer at the shore the way lonely children  do: watching the glittering waters and rushing clouds, daydreaming and remembering  how things used to be.  That is, until she meets artist Matt Bowles, who offers to  teach the girl to draw—and can't help but notice her beautiful, lonely mother.  At  first, Ophélie is thrown off balance by her daughter's new companion—until she realizes  how much joy he is bringing into their lives, despite the sadness she sees in his  eyes.  As their newfound friend works his subtle magic, mother and daughter slowly  begin to heal, to laugh again, to rediscover what they have lost.  When summer ends,  and Ophélie and Pip must leave the beach for the city, the season of healing continues.   Gathering her newfound strength, Ophélie begins a volunteer job at a city outreach  program, where she works with the homeless, and can no longer ignore the blessings  in her own life.  But as soul-sharing phone calls and autumn beach getaways deepen  Ophélie and Matt's friendship, fate strikes another blow.  Out of the blue, Matt  must confront unfinished business from his past.  Days later, Ophélie is struck by  a stunning betrayal by someone she trusts.  And as these events reverberate in two  already wounded hearts, something extraordinary happens.  Out of the darkness that  has shadowed them both comes an unexpected gift of hope.  With grace and compassion,  Danielle Steel explores the fragile bonds between mothers and daughters, husbands  and wives, family members and lifelong friends.  Her haunting, impassioned novel  takes us across the complex landscape of loss—to the blessings that arise from even  the darkest tragedies.  At once a story of triumph and a moving elegy to those who  suffer and survive, Safe Harbour is perhaps her most powerful and life-affirming  novel to date.