Zoya [Import] [Hardcover]

Danielle Steel (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 422 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown; New Ed edition (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316909335
• ISBN-13: 978-0316909334
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

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

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful entertaining journey, June 27, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zoya (Mass Market Paperback)

I hate to admit it, but I like Danielle Steel. Sure, we can criticize her prose which can be downright silly but no one can argue the fact that she is a professional when it comes to story-telling. Her novels read like epic screenplays and readers are taken to worlds far away with stories about characters which are moving and keep the pages turning. I have read only 5 of Ms. Steel's novels but "Zoya," to date, is the best. "Zoya" is the story of a Russian girl who flees her Russian homeland with her grandmother during the revoloution. She goes to Paris where her dreams of being a dancer are fulfilled and romance enters her life. The novel moves from Paris to New York where we are allowed to watch Zoya for 80 years. Ms. Steel brings to life all the feelings of Russia and romance eventhough, as we said, they may not be articulated well. This reader felt all the tears, laughter and joy Zoya experienced throughout her lifetime. Novels can either teach or entertain - so what if there is no lesson to be learned from the novels Danielle Steel writes? I can't think of too many people who can come up with stories like she can - so hats off to Ms. Steel!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zoya, November 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Zoya (Mass Market Paperback)

I must say that this is an intriguing book to read, thoroughly enjoyable, and very earnest in the feelings it conveys. However, as a Romanov afficionado I fundamentally oppose putting words into the mouths of the Tsar's family. Also, some glaring mistakes were made in their descriptions:

First, Joy was NOT Maria's (Mashka's) dog, nor was it a female! HE was a liver spaniel and belonged to Tsarevich Aleksei, Marie's younger brother. The reason I know he couldn't be a girl is, first, accounts of those who knew him and the family, and, second, the fact that "JOY" in Russian sounds positively like a male name.

Marie herself had a pet mouse, her sisters Anastasia had a Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Jemmy (though some say he originally belonged to Tatiana), Tatiana had a French bulldog named Ortino (who was a girl), and Olga had a cat named Vaska.

Also, somehow it seems improbable that a COUNTESS, which is rather low a title in Russia (Grand Duke and Prince come above it!) could be a cousin to the Tsar.

No blood was shed in the days of the Revolution, nor in the Bolshevik coup d'etat; the book says that "hundreds of people were dead by the end of the day."

Finally, the book depicts the Revolution as happening in a snap, and immediately Bolshevik. That is very, very wrong indeed. All of 1917 and part of 1916 endured strikes and random violence in Petrograd. Plus, after the Revolution came a summer of non-Bolshevik rule, though they were, of course, very powerful already...

However, the book was very good outside of that. Though again, another comment, most White emigres tended to keep up the Russian language and culture in their children, while Zoya doesn't do this... She could, of course, be called an exception, but somehow the fact that her children don't speak Russian sounds weird.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book rich in words and character., January 18, 2000

By 

kimber84 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zoya (Mass Market Paperback)

When I picked up this novel I had no idea how much it would change my life. It puts you right in the middle of the Russian Revolution where you meet Zoya, the cousin of the doomed Romanovs. She is forced to flee to France with her grandmother and start over as a poor woman. In this book the emotions flow thick with the gentle but rich and heavy words. When I read this beautiful book it was like a dam was breaking free and flooding my mind with so many beautiful images and pictures. When I put the book I thanked the world and God for such a wonderful and moving novel. I highly recommend this book.