Ghost (limited edition) [Hardcover]

Danielle Steel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 1997

With a wife he loves and an exciting London-based career, architect Charles Waterston's life seems in perfect balance. Nothing prepares him for the sudden end to his ten-year marriage-or his unwanted transfer to his firm's New York office.

Christmas is approaching when Charlie leaves New York, heading to Vermont to ski. But a sudden snowstorm strands him in a small Massachusetts town. There Charlie meets an elderly widow who offers to rent him her exquisite lakeside chateau. Hidden deep in the woods, it once belonged to a woman who lived there two centuries before named Sarah Ferguson. And from the moment Charlie sets foot inside the chateau, he feels her presence.

When Charlie first glimpses her, a beautiful young woman with jet-black hair, he thinks it is a neighbor playing a joke. Until he finds her diaries hidden away in an old trunk. As he begins to turn the brittle, dusty pages, the spirit of Sarah Ferguson seems to fill his life. Sarah's first entry is dated 1789 as she writes of her harrowing journey from her native England, having fled the brutality of her aristocratic husband. Settling in Massachusetts, Sarah finds an unfamiliar land seething with the turbulence of the Indian wars. As she builds her home in the wilderness and meets a man who will transform her life, Sarah finds freedom from the torment of her past. His name is Francois de Pellerin, a French nobleman adopted by Indians and drawn into the battle for the growing nation. Their fateful union is a testament to a love so powerful it reaches across the centuries. And for Charlie Waterston, their story gives him the courage to let go of his past, and the freedom to grasp a future that is right before his eyes.

In The Ghost, Danielle Steel brilliantly interweaves past and present, bringing to life two stories, centuries apart, in a timeless novel of courage, healing, and love.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Architect Charles Waterston has a job he loves, a charming and beautiful wife, and an idyllic life in London. But when everything comes crashing down around him--his wife leaving him for another man and his sudden transfer back to the New York home office--Charles takes a well-deserved ski vacation in Vermont. When an unexpected snowstorm strands Charles in a small town, he takes refuge in a small bed-and-breakfast. The proprietor, an elderly widow, also owns a family home in the woods, which Charles decides to rent. Soon after moving in, Charles senses a ghostly presence. While investigating in the attic one day, Charles discovers the diary of Sarah Ferguson, who left her abusive husband in England for a better life in the New World. Charles soon finds himself drawn to Sarah, and he even visits the local historical society in an attempt to learn more about her. There he meets lovely, timid Francesca Vironnet, the historical society curator and librarian, who has fled France with her young daughter. Through Sarah's journals and Francesca's kindness, Charles is able to heal his heart and learn to love again. Complete with Steel's trademark poignancy but minus the glitz and glamour so evident in many of her novels, The Ghost is an outstanding read. --Maudeen Wachsmith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Charlie Waterston thought he had it all?a beautiful wife, happy marriage, and brilliant architectural career?but a year changes all that completely. London, his job, and the lovely house he and his wife shared all become unbearable after she leaves him for another man. The alternative, working for his firm's main office in New York, turns out to be equally unbearable, so he flees it all, escaping to Vermont ski country. A sudden snowstorm en route, a night's refuge at a bed-and-breakfast owned by a charming old woman, and his discovery of the 200-year-old diary of a brave and beautiful lady teach him to endure his own sufferings, reach out to others, and hope for love and happiness again. Fans expecting Steel's (Malice, LJ 1/96) usual glitz and glamour may be disappointed by this elegiac tribute to mature love hard won the second time around.
-?Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; Limited edition (November 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385323530
• ISBN-13: 978-0385323536
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,859,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with over 590 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include 44 Charles Street, Legacy, Family Ties, Big Girl, Southern Lights, Matters of the Heart, One Day at a Time, 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ghost, May 12, 2000

By 

Stafford Springs (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ghost (Mass Market Paperback)

Did you ever want to live in a haunted house and discover that person's journals from the 1800's? Read the novel The Ghost by author Danielle Steel. The novel is about an American named Charles Waterston who lived in England until he got divorced from his wife. He decided to go back to the States and start a new life in New York. He doesn't like New York, so he decides to go skiing in Vermont. On his way there, a snowstorm makes him stop. He meets an old widowed lady, who lets him stay at her Bed & Breakfast. As the days go by, the elderly lady lets him rent out her other home in Deerfield. She tells him that Sarah Ferguson use to live there in the 1800's. When he moves in he sees Sarah's ghost, but he thinks it's his mind playing tricks on him. So the next day, he goes see Gladys and she knows that he had seen the ghost and he told her he did. She told him that when she was younger she had seen her ghost too, but has never seen it again. When Gladys son and his wife moved in, her daughter-in-law had seen Sarah's ghost too and decided to move out. This novel also tells the story about how Sarah had come to the states after she left her abusive husband in England. She takes the trip over on a boat that takes two months. Then in time, she meets her next husband Francois de Pelerrin, who is an Englishman, who is adopted by the Indians. This novel is amazing. Danielle Steel did a wonderful job combining two different stories from two different time periods; but in a way, the two stories do have some similarities between each other. I would recommend that whoever likes ghost stories to read this novel. It's a mix between romance and mystery.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "The Ghost" - Wonderful Story, July 22, 2000

By 

Luv2Read "imareader2" (Baton Rouge, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ghost (Hardcover)

"The Ghost" was a twist in the average Steele stories. I enjoyed the storyline because this time the shoe was on the other foot. Charles was the jilted husband, who so very much wanted his marriage to work. However, his wife had other ideas. She left him for her business partner, an older man. I felt sorry for Charles, who was really heartbroken. However, I was glad when Charles moved from London and went back to the states.

After taking a leave of absence from work, Charles rented a house from an elderly widow and set out to enjoy his free time. The house had quite a history and something from the past -- the ghost of the lovely Sarah. Charles takes a look at Sarah's journals and learns all about Sarah's past life.

During, Charles' stay in the Massachusetts town, while doing research on Sarah at the library, Charles meets Francesa, the librarian, and eventually makes friends with Francesa's daughter. A relationship develops between Charles and Francesa.

"The Ghost" was a touching and heartwarming story. Through Charles' readings of Sarah's journals, we learn the story of Sarah and the abuse she suffered at the hands of her abusive first husband. Also, we learn of the love Sarah found when she fled to America.

Ms. Steele has written another winner with "The Ghost."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Ends... and Begins Again..., November 16, 2000

By 

Michael Matsui (Woodbridge, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ghost (Mass Market Paperback)

Danielle Steel touched upon many of our fears and hesitations in real life within the pages of "The Ghost".

"The Ghost" is a story of a man [Charlie] who is trying to get over the pain and loneliness of his in-process divorce from his wife [Carol]. Charlie, still hurt by his wife who had an affair and left him for an older man, finds himself wounded and filled with more questions than answers. Even Charlie's job talks him into working in N.Y. City, which he hates, and finds that his professional life in N.Y. no longer provides any comfort or happiness for him.

Taking some time off, Charlie finds himself in the small town of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Here he rents a house believed to be haunted. Within these "haunted" walls Charlie will learn of a love story so powerful that it touches him even after the story has ended two hundred years ago.

Can the old love story of Sarah Ferguson and François de Pellerin, set in the early conflicts of the Native American Indians and the United States, show Charlie how to love again?

Can the lessons of Sarah Ferguson (a woman who's been beaten and battered, yet remains courageous and strong) teach Charlie how to breach the seemingly impenetrable walls around the heart of Francesca Vironnet, another woman who has given up on love... given up on Hope... just like Charlie?

Can a ghost from the past still teach us all how to love again... how to keep the Faith and have Hope?

I simply loved this book. One of her best! Both Danielle Steel and Sarah Ferguson teach us all, by example, that we should never let our hearts turn cold... never let the cruelty and pain of past loves destroy our futures... always have Faith... never lose Hope... and above all they teach us...

That love ends... and begins again.