The Lives of Danielle Steel: The Unauthorized Biography of America's #1 Best-Selling Author

Churning out up to three bestselling novels a year, Danielle Steel was, along with Tom Clancy and Stephen King, one of the three highest-grossing American authors of the 1980s. Her success continues unabated despite a resounding lack of critical acclaim. In their gossipy unauthorized bio, People magazine reporters Bane and Benet suggest that Steel's popular story lines stem from the turbulent events of her own life. They uncover two ex-con ex-husbands and other secrets Steel has tried to keep hidden from her public. Their detailed focus on some of the more sensational aspects of her life, e.g., child-custody battles and torrid romances, however, often become tedious. Although Steel's life history is clearly outlined, the writer herself remains a shadowy figure, more the conduit for a series of events than the fully developed protagonist of a good biography. Even so, it's clear Steel's life would make as compelling a TV miniseries as any of her novels have. Author tour. (Oct.)