Who is on the guest list: The Ball at Versailles (Danielle Steel)

This title is an e book bargain for 4.6.24

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Reading this book after not having read a title by this author for a while, I am reminded of the reasons for her success. She knows how to tell a story that engages the reader without asking anything in return except to sink in and enjoy the story.

This novel takes place in the late 1950s when things were (somewhat) different for women. Cotillions were still quite popular in some circles and invitations to balls were a coveted mark of belonging and status. Here is a story of several young women who agree to go to the first ball in Versailles that is inviting Americans, forty young women in all.

Readers meet Amelia, a college student with aspirations to become a lawyer. Her widowed mother convinces her to accept. There is Felicity, another college student, an overweight young woman who adores her studies at MIT. She agrees to please her parents. There is also a young women, Caroline, whose parents are prominent in the movie business and, finally, a young New Yorker, Samantha, whose father is quite rich and overprotective; she has a medical issue.

Peek into the lives of these characters pre Versailles. What will happen to them and their families as they get ready to go to France and once they are there? Readers will keep turning the pages to find out.

Anyone looking for a fun read with its peek at high society will, I think, enjoy this title. It was a perfect holiday read for me.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine for this title. All opinions are my own.

This title was published in November 2023.