Description

Bestselling author Danielle Steel takes us on a harrowing journey in to the heart of America's hidden shame in a book that explores the ability of forgiveness, the dark side of youth, and one-woman's strong spirit.From her secret perch at the most truly effective of the stairs, Gabriella Harrison watches the guests arrive at her parents' lavish Ny townhouse.  At seven, she knows she's an intruder in her parents' party, in her parents' life.  But she can not avoid the magic.  Later, she waits for the click, click, click of her mother's high heel shoes, the angry words, and the suffering that will follow.  Gabriella currently knows To full cover up her bruises, particular she's at fault for her mother's anger--and her father's inability to guard her.  Her world is just a confusing mixture of terror, betrayal, and pain.  Her parents' aristocratic world is no guard from the misuse that knows no limitations, recognizes no individual, no financial lines.  Gabriella knows that, try as she might, there's no safe place for her to hide.Even like a kid, her only escape is through the tales she writes.  Only publishing may dull the ache of her lonesome world.  And when her parents' marriage collapses, Gabriella is given her first reprieve, as her father disappears, and then her mother abandons her to a convent.  There, Gabriellais battered body and soul start to mend.  Amid the quiet safety and hushed rituals of the nuns, Gabriella grows into womanhood in a secure, tranquil world.  Then a priest comes into her life.  Father Joe Connors never questioned his vocation until Gabriella entered the confessional and shared her soul.  Confession leads to friendship.  And friendship grows dangerously into love.  Like Gabriella, Joe is haunted by the pain of his youth, used by guilt over a household tragedy, that he blames himself.  With Gabriella, Joe takes the very first steps toward healing.  But their connection leads to tragedy as Joe must choose from the priesthood and Gabriella, and existence in actuality where he fears he doesn't fit, and can't deal. Exiled and disgraced, and almost ruined, Gabriella struggles to survive on her own in New York.  There she tries recovery and escape through her writing again, this time around being an adult, and her living as a writer begins.  But only when she feels she's beyond injured, Gabriella is once again betrayed by someone she trusts.  Brought towards the side of despair, actually assaulted beyond identification and perception, haunted by abuse in her present and her past, she nonetheless manages to locate hope again, and the bravery to face the past.  On a pilgrimage meant to create her face-to-face with people who wanted to Ruin her in her early-life, she finds forgiveness, freedom from guilt, and healing from abuse.  When Gabriella encounters what was done to her, and why, she herself is free at last.  With serious insight, Danielle Steel has generated a vibrant picture of an abused childis cracked world, and the courage essential to confront it and free herself from the past.  A work of daring and compassion, an account of healing that will surprise and feel and transfer one to your very heart, it reveals the horror of child neglect, and opens the gates on the topic that affects us all.  The Extended Street House is significantly more than captivating fiction.  It is definitely an inspiration to us all.  A function of trust, courage, and love.