Family Ties

August 30, 2010
Steele’s sprawling narrative concerns the efforts of 42-year old architect Annie Ferguson to juggle her career and budding romantic life with worry over the travails of her now grown nephew and nieces, whom she raised following the untimely death of her sister. For better or worse, the story line includes a wide array of soap opera elements, ranging from fashion photography in France to volatile issues of religious and family identity in Iran. Susan Ericksen demonstrates competence and attention to detail in bringing the dialogue to life. Yet in conjunction with the material, the listening experience—engaging as it may be at points—is overloaded with Hollywood caricatures, particularly in the cross-cultural experiences between the West and the Middle East. A Delacorte hardcover (Reviews, May 17).

May 17, 2010
A bland, forgettable tale full of platitudes and clunky exposition, Steel's latest bestseller-to-be follows Annie Ferguson, who inherits her sister's three children when she dies in a plane crash. Annie does her best to raise them and manages to build a career for herself as a promising architect, even if it means putting much of the rest of her life on hold. Once the children are grown, Annie realizes that there are a slew of other problems facing them—abusive relationships, culture clashes, and the painful process of finding one's way in life—and as Annie gently leads her inherited brood through the gauntlet of growing up, she finds her own happiness. The treacle factor is front and foremost as Steel demonstrates, again, why she's not known as a prose stylist, although there's a glimmer of a good plot.