Danielle Steel

Danielle Steel (born August 14, 1947, New York City, New York, U.S.) is an American writer best known for her numerous best-selling romance novels.

Early life and career

Steel was an only child. After her parents divorced, she was reared by relatives and family employees in Paris and New York City. By age 15 she had graduated from the Lycée Français, and in 1963 she enrolled in the Parsons School of Design in New York. Illness prevented her from finishing her studies, but, when she recovered, she married a wealthy French banker. In 1968 she was hired as a vice president of public relations for the advertising agency Supergirls, Ltd., in New York City. When the firm closed in 1971, Steel turned to writing novels and poetry.

Novels

Her first novel, Going Home, was published in 1973 but sold only moderately well. Steel also began writing copy for the Grey Advertising Agency in San Francisco. After divorcing and remarrying and while raising her children, Steel continued to write but did not achieve much success until the publication of her fourth novel, The Promise (1978), an instant best seller that was followed by a series of popular paperbacks.

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Steel’s fictional romance novels typically center on strong yet glamorous women overcoming major obstacles or ordeals to secure a career, love, and a family. Although most critics gave tepid reviews to what they called formulaic novels, her books became fixtures on The New York Times best-seller list. Steel’s 75th novel, One Day at a Time, was published in 2009, at which time she had more than 500 million books in print. Several of her works also became popular television movies, including Kaleidoscope (1990), Jewels (1992), Mixed Blessings (1995), and Safe Harbour (2007). Her later novels include The Apartment (2016), Beauchamp Hall (2018), Lost and Found (2019), Invisible (2022), and Resurrection (2024).

Other works

Among Steel’s other works are the poetry collection Love: Poems (1981) and His Bright Light (1998), a nonfiction tribute to her son, Nick Traina, who died by suicide at age 19 after battling substance abuse and mental illness. Her son’s death led to her founding the Nick Traina Foundation, which supports nonprofits that are involved with addressing mental illness and child abuse and promoting suicide prevention. Steel also wrote numerous children’s books that center on the characters Max and Martha (1989–91), Freddie (1992), and Pretty Minnie (2014–16), the last of which feature Steel’s pet Chihuahua.