Legacy
A spark has the power to transform darkness and dullness to brilliant light and dynamic purpose; and security isn’t always the warm, cozy blanket one imagines. Brigitte Nicholson works in a Boston college admissions office and has a steady, uncommitted boyfriend. So she fluctuates between amusement and annoyance as her best friend, Amy, repeatedly urges Brigitte to break out of the comfort zone where she’s imprisoned. But Brigitte’s world is about to come undone, when her boyfriend, Ted, announces he’s got the archeological dig overseas for which he’s yearned for years. The only problem is Brigitte’s not part of his future dream. Within twenty-four hours, she loses Ted and is laid off from her secure job, practically replaced by a computer. Her own academic writing about women’s suffrage is as dry as dead bones, and she wonders what she can do beyond moping about these devastating losses.
Sound like a spoiler? No, for Brigitte is about to embark on an adventurous research journey, connecting her to her family heritage in the person of an athletic, romantic, strong, beautiful Sioux Indian woman, Wachiwi. Three memorable men will become part of Wachiwi’s life in America and Revolutionary France, including the little- known nobles, called Les Chouans, who fought back at the French Revolutionary merchant and peasant masses waging mayhem and death throughout Paris and other larger cities. Embracing the bravery of Wachiwi’s life gives Brigitte the incentive to do something previously unimagined, something to possibly share with a French writer/teacher who shares her passion for history and historical fiction.
It’s been a long time since this reviewer read a Danielle Steel novel, but Legacy is an amazing story that is a light but fascinating work of historical fiction.
