{"product_id":"echoes-isbn-9780440240785","title":"Echoes","description":"Against a vivid backdrop of history, Danielle Steel tells a compelling story of love and war, acts of faith and acts of betrayal…and of three generations of women as they journey though years of loss and survival, linked by an indomitable devotion that echoes across time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the Wittgenstein family, the summer of 1915 was a time of both prosperity and unease, as the guns of war sound in the distance. But for eldest daughter Beata, it was also a summer of awakening. By the glimmering waters of Lake Geneva, the quiet Jewish beauty met a young French officer and fell in love. Knowing that her parents would never accept her marriage to a Catholic, Beata followed her heart anyway. And as the two built a new life together, Beata’s past would stay with her in ways she could never have predicted. For as the years pass, and Europe is once again engulfed in war, Beata must watch in horror as Hitler’s terror threatens her life and family—even her eighteen-year-old daughter Amadea, who has taken on the vows of a Carmelite nun.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Amadea, the convent is no refuge. As family and friends are swept away without a trace, Amadea is forced into hiding. Thus begins a harrowing journey of survival, as she escapes into the heart of the French Resistance.  Here Amadea will find a renewed sense of purpose, taking on the most daring missions behind enemy lines. And it is here, in the darkest moments of fear, that Amadea will feel her mother’s loving strength—and that of her mother’s mother before her–as the voices of lost loved ones echo powerfully in her heart. And here, amid the fires of war, Amadea will meet an extraordinary man, British secret agent Rupert Montgomery. In Colonel Montgomery, Amadea finds a man who will help her discover her place in an unbreakable chain between generations…and between her lost family and her dreams for the future—a future she is only just beginning to imagine: a future of hope rooted in the rich soil of the past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the grace of a master storyteller, Danielle Steel breathes life into history, creating a bold, sweeping tale filled with unforgettable characters and breathtaking images—from the elegant rituals of Europe’s prewar aristocracy to the brutal desperation of Germany’s death camps. Drawing us into a vanished world, Echoes weaves an intricate tapestry of a mother’s love, a daughter’s courage…and the unwavering faith that sustained them—even in history’s darkest hour.\u003cb\u003ePraise for Danielle Steel\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Steel is one of the best!”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Few modern writers convey the pathos of family and material life with such heartfelt empathy.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Steel pulls out all the emotional stops. . . . She delivers!”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What counts for the reader is the ring of authenticity.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eDanielle Steel\u003c\/b\u003e has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 650 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include \u003ci\u003eCountry, Prodigal Son, Pegasus,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eA Perfect Life, Power Play, Winners, First Sight, Until the End of Time, The Sins of the Mother, \u003c\/i\u003eand other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of \u003ci\u003eHis Bright Light,\u003c\/i\u003e the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death; \u003ci\u003eA Gift of Hope, \u003c\/i\u003ea memoir of her work with the homeless; \u003ci\u003ePure Joy, \u003c\/i\u003eabout the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children’s book \u003ci\u003ePretty Minnie in Paris.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eChapter One\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e It was a lazy summer afternoon as Beata Wittgenstein strolled along  the shores of Lake Geneva with her parents. The sun was hot and the air still, and  as she walked pensively behind them, the birds and insects were making a tremendous  racket. Beata and her younger sister Brigitte had come to Geneva with their mother  for the summer. Beata had just turned twenty, and her sister was three years younger.  It had been thirteen months since the Great War had begun the previous summer, and  this year her father had wanted them out of Germany for their holiday. It was late  August 1915, and he had just spent a month there with them. Both of her brothers  were in the army and had managed to get leave to join them for a week. Horst was  twenty-three and a lieutenant at divisional headquarters in Munich. Ulm was a captain  in the 105th Infantry Regiment, part of the Thirtieth Division, attached to the Fourth  Army. He had just turned twenty-seven during the week he spent with them in Geneva.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e It had been nothing short of a miracle to get the entire family together. With the  war seeming to devour all the young men in Germany, Beata worried constantly now  about her brothers, as did their mother. Her father kept telling her that it would  be over soon, but what Beata heard when she listened to her father and brothers talk  was very different. The men were far more aware of the bleak times ahead than were  the women. Her mother never spoke of the war to her, and Brigitte was far more upset  that there were hardly any handsome young men to flirt with. Ever since she had been  a little girl, all Brigitte had ever talked about was getting married. She had recently  fallen in love with one of Horst's friends from university, and Beata had a strong  suspicion that her beautiful younger sister would be getting engaged that winter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Beata had no such interests or intentions. She had always been the quiet one, studious  and far more serious, and she was much more interested in her studies than in finding  a young man. Her father always said she was the perfect daughter. Their only moment  of dissent had been when she had insisted she wanted to go to university like her  brothers, which her father said was foolish. Although he himself was serious and  scholarly, he didn't think that that degree of education was necessary for a woman.  He told her he felt sure that in a short time she would be married and tending to  a husband and children. She didn't need to go to university, and he hadn't allowed  it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Beata's brothers and their friends were a lively lot, and her sister was pretty  and flirtatious. Beata had always felt different from them, set apart by her quiet  ways and passion for education. In a perfect world, she would have loved to be a  teacher, but when she said it, her siblings always laughed at her. Brigitte said  that only poor girls became schoolteachers or governesses, and her brothers added  that only ugly ones even thought about it. They loved to tease her, although Beata  was neither poor nor ugly. Her father owned and ran one of the most important banks  in Cologne, where they lived. They had a large handsome house in the Fitzengraben  district, and her mother Monika was well known in Cologne, not only for her beauty  but for her elegant clothes and jewelry. Like Beata, she was a quiet woman. Monika  had married Jacob Wittgenstein when she was seventeen, and had been happy with him  in the twenty-eight years since then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The marriage had been arranged by their respective  families, and was a good one. At the time their union had been the merger of two  considerable fortunes, and Jacob had enlarged theirs impressively since then. He  ran the bank with an iron fist and was almost clairvoyant about the banking business.  Not only was their future secure, but so were those of their heirs. Everything about  the Wittgensteins was solid. The only unpredictable element in their life now was  the same one worrying everyone these days. The war was a great concern to them, particularly  to Monika, with two sons in the army. The time they had shared in Switzerland had  been a comforting respite, for the parents as well as the children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Ordinarily,  they spent their summers in Germany, at the seashore, but this year Jacob had wanted  to get them all out of Germany for July and August. He had even spoken to one of  the commanding generals whom he knew well, and gently asked the enormous favor of  having both of his sons on leave and able to join them. The general had quietly arranged  it. The Wittgensteins were that great rarity, a Jewish family that enjoyed not only  great wealth but also enormous power. Beata was aware of it but paid little attention  to her family's importance. She was far more interested in her studies. And although  Brigitte sometimes fretted over the constraints their orthodoxy put on them, Beata,  in her own quiet way, was deeply religious, which pleased her father. As a young  man, he had shocked his own family by saying that he wanted to be a rabbi. His father  had talked sense into him, and at the appropriate time, he had joined the family  bank, along with his father, brothers, uncles, and grandfather before them. Theirs  was a family steeped in tradition, and although Jacob's father had a great respect  for the rabbinical life, he had no intention of sacrificing his son to it. And like  the obedient son he was, Jacob went to work at the bank, and married shortly thereafter.  At fifty, he was five years older than Beata's mother.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The entire family agreed  that the decision to summer in Switzerland this year had been a good one. The Wittgensteins  had many friends here, and Jacob and Monika had attended a number of parties, as  had their children. Jacob knew everyone in the Swiss banking community and had gone  to Lausanne and Zurich to see friends in those cities as well. Whenever possible,  they took the girls with them. While Horst and Ulm were there, they spent as much  time as they could enjoying their company. Ulm was leaving for the front when he  got back, and Horst was stationed at divisional headquarters in Munich, which he  seemed to find vastly amusing. In spite of the serious upbringing he'd had, Horst  was something of a playboy. He and Brigitte had much more in common with each other  than either of them did with Beata.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As she fell behind the others, walking slowly  along the lake, her oldest brother Ulm hung back and fell into step beside her. He  was always protective of her, perhaps because he was seven years older. Beata knew  he respected her gentle nature and loving ways.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"What are you thinking about, Bea?  You look awfully serious walking along by yourself. Why don't you join us?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Her  mother and sister were far ahead by then, talking about fashion and the men Brigitte  had found handsome at the previous week's parties. The men in the family were talking  about the only subjects that interested them--which these days were the war and banking.  After the war, Ulm was going back to work at the bank again, as he had for four years  before. Their father said that Horst was going to have to stop playing, become serious,  and join them. Horst had promised that as soon as the war was over, he would. He  was only twenty-two when war was declared the year before, and he had assured his  father that when the war was over, he'd be ready. And Jacob had said several times  recently that it was time for Ulm to get married. The one thing Jacob expected of  his children, or anyone in his immediate circle actually, was that they obey him.  He expected that of his wife as well, and she had never disappointed him. Nor had  his children, with the exception of Horst, who had been dragging his feet about working  when he went into the army. The last thing on Horst's mind at the moment was marriage.  In fact, the only one interested in that prospect was Brigitte. Beata hadn't met  a man who had swept her off her feet yet. Although she thought that many of her parents'  friends' sons were handsome, many of the young ones seemed silly, and the older ones  frightened her a bit and often seemed too somber. She was in no hurry to be married.  Beata often said that if she married anyone, she hoped he would be a scholar, and  not necessarily a banker. There was no way she could say that to her father, although  she had confessed it to her mother and sister many times. Brigitte said that sounded  boring. The handsome young friend of Horst's she had her eye on was as frivolous  as she was, and from an equally important banking family. Jacob was intending to  meet with the boy's father in September to discuss it, although Brigitte didn't know  that. But so far, no suitor had emerged for Beata, nor did she really want one. She  rarely spoke to anyone at parties. She went dutifully with her parents, wearing the  dresses her mother chose for her. She was always polite to their hosts, and immensely  relieved when it was time to go home. Unlike Brigitte, who had to be dragged away,  complaining that it had been far too early to leave the party, and why did her family  have to be so dull and boring. Horst was in complete agreement with her, and always  had been. Beata and Ulm were the serious ones.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Have you had fun in Geneva?\" Ulm  asked Beata quietly. He was the only one who made a serious effort to speak to her,  and find out what she was thinking. Horst and Brigitte were far too busy playing  and having fun to spend time on more erudite subjects with their sister.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Yes, I  have.\" Beata smiled shyly up at him. Even though he was her brother, Beata was always  dazzled by how handsome he was, and how kind. He was a gentle person, and looked  exactly like their father. Ulm was tall and blond and athletic, as Jacob had been  in his youth. Ulm had blue eyes and features that often confused people, because  he didn't look Jewish. Everyone knew they were, of course, and in the social world  of Cologne, they were accepted in even the most aristocratic circles. Several of  the Hohenlohes, and Thurn und Thaxis were childhood friends of their father's. The  Wittgensteins were so established and so respected that all doors were open to them.  But Jacob had also made it clear to all his children that when the time came for  them to marry, the spouses they brought home would be Jewish. It was not even a subject  for discussion; nor would any of them even think to question it. They were accepted  for who and what they were, and there were many eligible young men and women in their  own circles for the Wittgenstein children to choose from. When the time came for  them to marry, they would marry one of them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Ulm and Beata didn't even look remotely  related as they walked along the lake. Her brothers and sister looked exactly like  their father, they were all tall blondes with blue eyes and fine features. Beata  looked like their mother, in total contrast to them. Beata Wittgenstein was a tiny,  frail-looking, delicate brunette, with raven-dark hair and skin the color of porcelain.  The only feature she shared with the others was enormous blue eyes, although hers  were darker than her brothers' or Brigitte's. Her mother's eyes were dark brown,  but other than that minor difference, Beata was the image of her mother, which secretly  delighted her father. He was still so much in love with his wife after nearly twenty-nine  years that just seeing Beata smile at him reminded him of when her mother was the  same age in the early years of their marriage, and the similarity never failed to  touch his heart. As a result, he had an enormous soft spot for Beata, and Brigitte  frequently complained that Beata was his favorite. He let her do whatever she wanted.  But what Beata wanted was harmless. Brigitte's plans were considerably racier than  her older sister's. Beata was content to stay home and read or study, in fact, she  preferred it. The only time her father had actually gotten annoyed with her was on  one occasion when Jacob found her reading a King James version of the Bible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"What  is that about?\" he asked with a stern expression, as he saw what she was reading.  She had been sixteen at the time and was fascinated by it. She had read quite a lot  of the Old Testament before that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"It's interesting, Papa. The stories are wonderful,  and so many things in it are exactly what we believe.\" She preferred the New Testament  to the Old. Her father found it less than amusing and had taken it away from her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He didn't want his daughter reading a Christian Bible, and he had complained about  it to her mother, and suggested that Monika keep a closer eye on what she was reading.  In fact, Beata read everything she could get her hands on, including Aristotle and  Plato. She was a voracious reader and loved the Greek philosophers. Even her father  had to admit that if she had been a man, she would have been an extraordinary scholar.  What he wanted for her now, as he did for Ulm and even for the other two sometime  soon, was for her to get married. He was beginning to fear that she would become  spinsterish and too serious if she waited much longer. He had a few ideas he wanted  to explore in that vein that winter, but the war had disrupted everything. So many  men were serving in the army, and many young people they knew had been killed in  the past year. The uncertainty of the future was deeply disturbing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Her father thought  that Beata would do well with a man who was older than she was. He wanted a mature  man for Beata, a man who could appreciate her intellect and share her interests.  He wasn't opposed to that idea for Brigitte either, who could use a strong hand to  control her. Although he loved all his children, he was extremely proud of his oldest  daughter. He considered himself a man of wisdom and compassion. He was the kind of  person others never hesitated to turn to. Beata had a deep love and respect for him,  as she did for her mother, although she secretly admitted to the others that their  mother was easier to talk to, and a little less daunting than their father. Their  father was as serious as Beata, and often disapproved of his younger daughter's frivolity.","brand":"Dell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299902247141,"sku":"NP9780440240785","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780440240785.jpg?v=1767725846","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/echoes-isbn-9780440240785","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}