Danielle Steel - Echoes

A mother's love, a daughter's courage

… and their unwavering faith

ECHOES

PRAISE FOR

DANIELLE STEEL“Steel pulls out all the emotional stops.… She delivers.” —Publishers Weekly “Steel is one of the best!” —Los Angeles Times “The world's most popular author tells a good, well-paced story and explores some important issues.… Steel affirm[s] life while admitting its turbulence, melodramas, and misfiring passions.” —Booklist “Danielle Steel writes boldly and with practiced vividness about tragedy—both national and personal… with insight and power.” —Nashville Banner “There is a smooth reading style to her writings which makes it easy to forget the time and to keep flipping the pages.” —Pittsburgh Press “One of the things that keep Danielle Steel fresh is her bent for timely story lines…. The combination of Steel's comprehensive research and her skill at creating credible characters makes for a gripping read.” —Newark Star-Ledger “What counts for the reader is the ring of authenticity.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Steel knows how to wring the emotion out of the briefest scene.” —People “Ms. Steel excels at pacing her narrative, which races forward, mirroring the frenetic lives chronicled; men and women swept up in bewildering change, seeking solutions to problems never before faced.” —Nashville Banner “Danielle Steel has again uplifted her readers while skillfully communicating some of life's bittersweet verities. Who could ask for a finer gift than that?” —Philadelphia Inquirer

PRAISE FOR THE RECENT NOVELS OF

DANIELLE STEEL ECHOES “Courage of conviction, strength of character and love of family that transcends loss are the traits that echo through three generations of women….A moving story that is Steel at her finest.” —Chattanooga Times Free Press “Romance and risk mark the latest adventure from the prolific Steel, as a young woman must survive the Nazi regime if she is to be reunited with her family.” —Sacramento Bee “Get out your hankies… Steel put her all into this one.” —Kirkus Reviews “A compelling tale of love and loss.” —Booklist IMPOSSIBLE “Steel knows what her fans want, and this solid, meaty tale will not disappoint them.” —Booklist SECOND CHANCE “Vintage Steel.” —St. Paul Pioneer Press “Gazillions of readers around the globe worship Steel's books.” —New York Post RANSOM “This suspense novel has automatic appeal for Steel fans.” —Booklist “A surefire best seller.” —New York Daily News SAFE HARBOUR “Danielle Steel offers readers a poignant tale of friendship, family, and hope. The relationships are full, and the unforgettable spirit with which the characters struggle to renew their love for life marks this book a treasure.” —Oklahoman “Her page-turning plot and charming depiction of loving relationships will endear Ms. Steel to her fans.” —Library Journal JOHNNY ANGEL “Call us sentimental, but sometimes we prefer the classic authors. Make it a point of pride to read Johnny Angel .” —Chicago Sun-Times A MAIN SELECTION OF THE LITERARY GUILD

AND DOUBLEDAY BOOK CLUB

Also by Danielle Steel

To my beloved children, who are

so infinitely precious to me, each

of them so special:

Beatrix, Trevor, Todd, Nick, Sam,

Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara.

May the echoes of your past, present,

and future always be kind and gentle.

With all my love,

Mommy

d.s.

“It's a wonder I haven't abandoned

all my ideals. They seem so absurd and

impractical. Yet I cling to them because

I still believe, in spite of everything,

that people are truly good at heart.”—Anne Frank“Whoever saves one life, saves a

world entire.”—Talmud

1

IT WAS A LAZY SUMMER AFTERNOON AS BEATA WITTGEN-stein 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.

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.

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.

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.