The Long Road Home
by Danielle Steel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Danielle SteelEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-03-02
ISBN: 0440224837
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Dell
Book Reviews of The Long Road Home
Book Review: As an abused child
Summary: 5 Stars
As an abused child, I understand what it means. Even though never in the same magnitude, I was an abused child and I know how it feels. Violent beatings for very small mistakes, repeated humiliations and cruelty for no real reason that leaves one with little self confidence, and eventually even more beating for standing up for my rights and saying that I didn't deserve this. For 12 years as a child and throughout my teenage life, I had to tell myself that I was worthy of respect and love. It seemed sick what my mother was doing sometimes, but I was never sure and only towards the end that I realized it wasn't my fault. I was told repeatedly at a young age that I was worthless, useless, and deserve all the humiliation I get. Some other times, when she feels guilty about what she has just done, she would tell me she was sorry. My mother was not the monster in Danielle Steel's book, but still injustice was done. Now, I say I can understand the kind of pressures she was going through and I am able to forgive, but never forget. At the time, I couldn't say that, I could only believe for so many years and feel that I am truly worthless and only defend myself out of dignity, while I really believed it. Years later, I started to see that it can't be true, I am not bad and I deserve happiness somewhere else. That in itself has caused so much damaged. I made so many wrong choices so early and compromised myself only too often it amazes me now. All that in search for one thing; love and respect, but I ended up always left behind. I understand only too well how it feels. As in the book, I am a survivor and I realized very early on that I have to take care of myself and I can't rely on anyone. It does seem very strong to people, it used to outrage my mother even more and the beating would be only aimed to see me break, but I never relented and I never let her reach out to me. My objective in life, as far back as I can remember, is to be independent and do something with myself that I can call my own. I have succeeded. It made me stronger, I realized that not my mother with the beatings and the humiliations and accusations, or the men who took advantage of me and left without a word could really beat me or reach my soul. I always came out of it. I survived it.It is the long way to tell you that I liked the book very much and I really identified with Gabbie. Now, at her same age, I cam to full circle. I found a man, my husband who loves me beyond imagination and I love him and I awe him my healing and I have a responsible job. As I am healing, I am reaching out for my mother, she regrets what she did and I truly came to forgive her. It took a lot of courage, strength, pain, and mistakes, but the only way it was possible is by being strong from within and letting no one conquer my soul even if they could beat my body or hurt my feeling.
Summary of The Long Road Home
Bestselling novelist Danielle Steel takes us on a harrowing journey into the heart of America's hidden shame in a novel that explores the power of forgiveness, the dark side of childhood, and one woman's unbreakable spirit.From her secret perch at the top of the stairs, Gabriella Harrison watches the guests arrive at her parents' lavish Manhattan townhouse. At seven, she knows she is an intruder in her parents' party, in her parents' life. But she can't resist the magic. Later, she waits for the click, click, click of her mother's high heels, the angry words, and the pain that will follow. Gabriella already knows to hide her bruises, certain she is to blame for her mother's rage--and her father's failure to protect her. Her world is a confusing blend of terror, betrayal, and pain. Her parents' aristocratic world is no safeguard against the abuse that knows no boundaries, respects no person, no economic lines. Gabriella knows that, try as she might, there is no safe place for her to hide.
Even as a child, her only escape is through the stories she writes. Only writing can dull the pain of her lonely world. And when her parents' marriage collapses, Gabriella is given her first reprieve, as her father disappears, and then her mother abandons her to a convent. There, Gabriella's battered body and soul begin to mend. Amid the quiet safety and hushed rituals of the nuns, Gabriella grows into womanhood in a safe, peaceful world. Then a young priest comes into her life.
Father Joe Connors never questioned his vocation until Gabriella entered the confessional and shared her soul. Confession leads to friendship. And friendship grows dangerously into love. Like Gabriella, Joe is haunted by the pain of his childhood, consumed by guilt over a family tragedy, for which he blames himself. With Gabriella, Joe takes the first steps toward healing. But their relationship leads to tragedy as Joe must choose between the priesthood and Gabriella, and life in the real world where he fears he does not belong, and cannot cope.
Exiled and disgraced, and nearly destroyed, Gabriella struggles to survive on her own in New York. There she seeks healing and escape through her writing again, this time as an adult, and her life as a writer begins. But just when she thinks she is beyond hurt, Gabriella is once again betrayed by someone she trusts. Brought to the edge of despair, physically attacked beyond recognition and belief, haunted by abuse in her present and her past, she nonetheless manages to find hope again, and the courage to face the past. On a pilgrimage destined to bring her face-to-face with those who sought to destroy her in her early life, she finds forgiveness, freedom from guilt, and healing from abuse. When Gabriella faces what was done to her, and why, she herself is free at last.
With profound insight, Danielle Steel has created a vivid portrait of an abused child's broken world, and the courage necessary to face it and free herself from the past. A work of daring and compassion, a tale of healing that will shock and touch and move you to your very soul, it exposes the terror of child abuse, and opens the doors on a subject that affects us all. The Long Road Home is more than riveting fiction. It is an inspiration to us all. A work of courage, hope, and love.
At age 6, our heroine, lovely Gabriella Harrison, a rich kid on Manhattan's Upper East Side, "looked startled much of the time, like an angel who had fallen to earth, and had not known what to expect here." What Gabriella gets is a mother like Lucifer and a father who slips out to sleep with Italian prostitutes while Mrs. Harrison is busy breaking Gabriella's spirit--and sometimes her bones. Gabby's tormentor makes the real-life moms in Mommie Dearest and Mommy Dressing look sweet.
Gabriella gets a better break when her parents divorce and dump her in a convent. She meets a sensitive, older man with a deep, dark secret, and pretty soon they've got some steamy erotic secrets in common.
Unfortunately, he's a priest, and troubles erupt that are too much for any confessional to contain. Soon Gabriella is living on the East Side again, only this time in Mrs. Boslicki's boarding house, where the richness in people's hearts makes up for their relative material poverty. A kindly, retired Harvard English professor resembling Einstein nags her into trying her hand and purging her demons as a writer. "When I say you have talent, young lady, I mean it," says Professor Thomas. "They didn't hire me at Harvard to grow bananas." Will Gabriella have the courage to confront her talent? Can she face her past at last, conquer the future, and land a man to share it? Hey, is this a Danielle Steel novel or not? --Tim Appelo
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