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Pegasus
In a rich historical novel of family and World War II, #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel unfurls a powerful saga that spans generations and continents. This is a story of courage, friendship, and fate as two families face the challenges of war . . . and the magnificent stallion that will link them forever.
PEGASUS
Nicolas von Bingen and Alex von Hemmerle, titled members of the German aristocracy, have been best friends since childhood. Both widowers, they are raising their children—Nick’s two lively boys and Alex’s adored teenage daughter—in peace and luxury on the vast Bavarian estates that have belonged to their families for generations. While Nick indulges in more glamorous pursuits, Alex devotes himself to breeding the renowned white Lipizzaner horses that enthrall audiences throughout Europe with their ability to dance and spin on command, majestic creatures whose bloodlines are rare and priceless. But it is Nicolas’s bloodline that changes everything, when his father receives a warning from a high-ranking contact inside the Wehrmacht. A secret from the past has left the family vulnerable to the rising tide of Nazism: Nick’s mother, whom he never knew, was of Jewish descent.
Suddenly Nicolas must flee Germany, wrenching his sons away from the only home they have known, sailing across the Atlantic for a new life in America. Their survival will depend on a precious gift from Alex, their only stake for the future: eight purebred horses, two of them stunning Lipizzaners. In Florida, where Nicolas joins the Ringling Brothers Circus, he becomes Nick Bing, with Alex’s prize white stallion—now named Pegasus—the centerpiece of the show.
In this extraordinary book, Danielle Steel tells the story of a family reinventing itself in America, while the country they left behind is engulfed in flames and madness, and men like Alex von Hemmerle are forced to make unbearable choices. Alex’s daughter will find sanctuary in England. In America, Nick will find love, his sons will find a future, and their left-behind world will eventually find them. A novel of hope and sacrifice, of tragedy, challenge, and rebirth, Pegasus is a brilliant family chronicle that unfolds across half a century—a masterwork from one of our most beloved writers.
PEGASUS
Nicolas von Bingen and Alex von Hemmerle, titled members of the German aristocracy, have been best friends since childhood. Both widowers, they are raising their children—Nick’s two lively boys and Alex’s adored teenage daughter—in peace and luxury on the vast Bavarian estates that have belonged to their families for generations. While Nick indulges in more glamorous pursuits, Alex devotes himself to breeding the renowned white Lipizzaner horses that enthrall audiences throughout Europe with their ability to dance and spin on command, majestic creatures whose bloodlines are rare and priceless. But it is Nicolas’s bloodline that changes everything, when his father receives a warning from a high-ranking contact inside the Wehrmacht. A secret from the past has left the family vulnerable to the rising tide of Nazism: Nick’s mother, whom he never knew, was of Jewish descent.
Suddenly Nicolas must flee Germany, wrenching his sons away from the only home they have known, sailing across the Atlantic for a new life in America. Their survival will depend on a precious gift from Alex, their only stake for the future: eight purebred horses, two of them stunning Lipizzaners. In Florida, where Nicolas joins the Ringling Brothers Circus, he becomes Nick Bing, with Alex’s prize white stallion—now named Pegasus—the centerpiece of the show.
In this extraordinary book, Danielle Steel tells the story of a family reinventing itself in America, while the country they left behind is engulfed in flames and madness, and men like Alex von Hemmerle are forced to make unbearable choices. Alex’s daughter will find sanctuary in England. In America, Nick will find love, his sons will find a future, and their left-behind world will eventually find them. A novel of hope and sacrifice, of tragedy, challenge, and rebirth, Pegasus is a brilliant family chronicle that unfolds across half a century—a masterwork from one of our most beloved writers.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
722 people are currently reading
2953 people want to read
About the author
Danielle Steel
911 books16.7k followersDanielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's bestselling authors, with almost a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include All That Glitters, Royal, Daddy's Girls, The Wedding Dress, The Numbers Game, Moral Compass, Spy, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Expect a Miracle, a book of her favorite quotations for inspiration and comfort; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children's books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 547 reviews
February 10, 2017
No, Danielle Steel. Just no. You do not get to churn out this silly drivel and expect me to keep my mouth shut. This is the last time you make a mockery out of me.
Danielle Steel loves 3 things in over abundance:
1. Sentence fragments.
2. Creepy old dudes marrying women far too pretty and young for their nasty asses.
3. Stating "So 'n So felt sorry for him/ her." In.every.single.book. Seriously, who wants a "friend" like that? You can take your superior attitude and sticky it up your nasty bits, or I will do it for you. Your choice.
4. Repeating herself ad nauseam. Yawn.
Ok, so that's 4 things, which gives me all the more incentive I need to quit torturing myself and making excuses for her.
Oh yeah, heads up, this book is NOT an "epic, multi-generational, cross country" anything.
No, sir.
She tricked us.
This is a book about the CIRCUS. A stupid ass CIRCUS, under the guise of being an emotionally wrought and historically accurate gut-wrenching tale about WWII.
Yeah right, joke's on me because I should've known better.
Danielle Steel loves 3 things in over abundance:
1. Sentence fragments.
2. Creepy old dudes marrying women far too pretty and young for their nasty asses.
3. Stating "So 'n So felt sorry for him/ her." In.every.single.book. Seriously, who wants a "friend" like that? You can take your superior attitude and sticky it up your nasty bits, or I will do it for you. Your choice.
4. Repeating herself ad nauseam. Yawn.
Ok, so that's 4 things, which gives me all the more incentive I need to quit torturing myself and making excuses for her.
Oh yeah, heads up, this book is NOT an "epic, multi-generational, cross country" anything.
No, sir.
She tricked us.
This is a book about the CIRCUS. A stupid ass CIRCUS, under the guise of being an emotionally wrought and historically accurate gut-wrenching tale about WWII.
Yeah right, joke's on me because I should've known better.
March 7, 2015
This is one pretentious, awfully written, piece of shit. I saw it at at the library and laughed when I read the insert: "In a rich historical novel of family and World War II, #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel unfurls a powerful saga that spans generations and continents. This is a story of courage, friendship, and fate, as two families face the challenges of war . . . and the magnificent stallion that will link them forever." No. This is leagues worse than a Lifetime movie, its historicity effectively tracking Wikipedia articles line by line. I read it so you never have to. Let me tell you some of the things that happen in this book, which left me in breathless awe of its expansive stupidity:
Two super aristocratic German families in the 1930s with their respective handsome 40-something widowers (Nick and Alex) and their respective charming children. Alex breeds Lippizaners (nb, I have been to Vienna and seen them in training at the Spanish Riding School - but all Ms. Steel needed was the Wiki page on the breed).
Suddenly, Nick learns the mother he never knew was part Jewish! Time to get out of dodge - but how? Obviously, join a circus. Alex offers Nick two Lippizaners and six Arabians; Nick and his kids wind up sailing first class to join Ringling Brothers in Florida. He explains to a high-class beauty on the boat how he's quickly fallen from aristocratic playboy to penniless persecuted Jewish circus performer:
This is the kind of powerfully idiotic, painfully prescient dialogue that pervades this overwrought outline of a story. Don't worry, this explanation is repeated again, and again, and again, as Nick meets his new circus family. Ms. Steel repeats herself so often, within the same paragraph, on the same page, that one wonders whether she has dementia or is writing for an audience that does.
Nick instantly becomes besotted with a high-wire performer half his age (I do mean instantly; it's ridiculous). He's nauseated and terrified that she performs without a net, which becomes THE defining issue in their relationship, the only thing ever discussed; the first time they're alone, he puts her on one of his horses, then kisses her, puts her on the ground, kisses her, then:
Don't worry - obviously as soon as they start sleeping together, the high wire act gets even more dangerous: "Christianna was still under the spell of Nick's lovemaking after the stolen moments they shared, and she stumbled on the high wire again on the last night in Tampa...Nick nearly cried. They argued about it afterward...He was seriously upset, because her working without a net filled him with terror, for her and himself." My god, this prose. This poor girl. Nick isn't a real circus man, but the circus is all Christianna has known. Nick's plan is to hie them off to a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, get married and then breed horses and have a peaceful life. Two years later, they do get married, and the sole wedding bargain Nick struck with Christianna's dad comes to fruition: Christianna now has to perform with a net. Phew.
Meanwhile, Ms. Steel has overlaid this gripping narrative on a very basic timeline of WWII - the circus performers hear about Kristallnacht! They hear about England declaring war! They hear about Pearl Harbor! Nick and Alex's kids and parents bear the brunt of the war-related action. It's obvious and dumb. The last fifty pages get really, really silly. Aristocrat Alex is caught after blowing up a munitions train (he'd been helping Jews get to Switzerland) by a Nazi colonel to whom he'd given one of his Lippizaners (to get his daughter to safety in England). This happens:
Then, of course, Nick and crew are caught up in the circus fire of 1944 (each line pulled from this Wikipedia article). War ends. Whilst selling his estate that had conveniently reverted back to him, Nick also manages to contact "a Red Cross group and a Jewish refugee organization, trying to trace his mother, when the war ended...and they told him what he had suspected. She had died with her husband, four children, and several other relatives, including her parents." This is a pretty remarkable find, given that Nick's dad hadn't even told Nick his mother's name and had absolutely no idea where in the world she was, forty years after she'd given birth to Nick and then disappeared.
But with that loose end tied up, Nick's all ready to get his ranch - and Christianna (now mother of his child) is horrified! She can't! She won't! The circus is all she's ever known! After a couple weeks of back and forth, they "came to the conclusion that he hoped to avoid. They were separating. He was going to California with [his one son who hadn't died in the war] to set up a ranch. And she was staying with her family and the circus, and keeping [their daughter] with her. It made his heart ache to lose both of them, but he knew he had to do it....Their paths were going separate ways, and neither of them would be happy doing what the other wanted. They weren't divorcing, but they were separating." DON'T WORRY. Right as Nick is pulling out with his trailer to leave forever, he tells his son to wait, runs back to Christianna, and says, "Okay, I give up. We're staying. We'll stay in the circus forever. I love you." And SHE says, "We're coming to California. We're leaving." WHAT?! "They had each been willing to give up everything they wanted for the other." Oh, okay - true love, I guess. Conveniently, they go his route, off to CA, and "they never looked back."
The last fifteen pages are money - let's get into what the grandkids and great-grandkids are up to. Obviously Aristocrat Alex's widowed daughter Marianne found a US soldier to marry, moved to Virginia with him to raise horses there, and had a daughter named Violet who became an equestrian on the Olympic team and had her own daughter named Nicola (after her great-grandfather Alex's bf Nick). Meanwhile, Nick and his grandson Alex (named after Nick's bf) go on daily rides at their CA ranch while Nick tells stories of the circus. On one such ride one day, Nick "stopped talking, seemed to be resting in his saddle, and the beautiful Lipizzaner he was riding, one of the sons of the great Pegasus, just turned slowly home toward the barn, and Alex's horse followed.
THEN, THEN, THEN: fast-forward to a crazy horse auction in England, with mad bidding over a particular Lipizzaner stallion. Bidding war between...grandson Alex and great-granddaughter Nicola, who had never met and thought their predecessors' circus stories were just made up! No! It's more than coincidence! It's fate! After a few months, Nicola is conveniently in Alex's CA neighborhood with the horse (also named Pegasus after his grandsire) and stops by.
Two super aristocratic German families in the 1930s with their respective handsome 40-something widowers (Nick and Alex) and their respective charming children. Alex breeds Lippizaners (nb, I have been to Vienna and seen them in training at the Spanish Riding School - but all Ms. Steel needed was the Wiki page on the breed).
Suddenly, Nick learns the mother he never knew was part Jewish! Time to get out of dodge - but how? Obviously, join a circus. Alex offers Nick two Lippizaners and six Arabians; Nick and his kids wind up sailing first class to join Ringling Brothers in Florida. He explains to a high-class beauty on the boat how he's quickly fallen from aristocratic playboy to penniless persecuted Jewish circus performer:
"I'm a man who was driven out of his homeland, by a lunatic who wants to purify the master race and take over the world. And Jews are not welcome in it, or part of his plan. And suddenly, by a quirk of fate, I have become one. It's more than a little humbling, to say the least. I slipped from the top to the bottom of the ladder, literally overnight."
This is the kind of powerfully idiotic, painfully prescient dialogue that pervades this overwrought outline of a story. Don't worry, this explanation is repeated again, and again, and again, as Nick meets his new circus family. Ms. Steel repeats herself so often, within the same paragraph, on the same page, that one wonders whether she has dementia or is writing for an audience that does.
Nick instantly becomes besotted with a high-wire performer half his age (I do mean instantly; it's ridiculous). He's nauseated and terrified that she performs without a net, which becomes THE defining issue in their relationship, the only thing ever discussed; the first time they're alone, he puts her on one of his horses, then kisses her, puts her on the ground, kisses her, then:
All he knew was that wherever he was, no matter how far he had come, he had come home. He had come from another lifetime, another world, across an ocean to find her, and there was no doubt in his mind about what he was doing with her, and she appeared to feel the same way.
'I've been waiting for you. You took a long time to come,' she said quietly.
'I had some things to do,' he said, with his arms still around her. 'We're going to have a problem about the high wire, Christianna,' he warned her, which only seemed fair.
'We'll see,' she said.
'I didn't come here to watch you kill yourself.' He had been widowed once, and he didn't want to fall in love with a woman who risked her life every night. He couldn't go through that again. 'I need you here with me.'
Don't worry - obviously as soon as they start sleeping together, the high wire act gets even more dangerous: "Christianna was still under the spell of Nick's lovemaking after the stolen moments they shared, and she stumbled on the high wire again on the last night in Tampa...Nick nearly cried. They argued about it afterward...He was seriously upset, because her working without a net filled him with terror, for her and himself." My god, this prose. This poor girl. Nick isn't a real circus man, but the circus is all Christianna has known. Nick's plan is to hie them off to a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, get married and then breed horses and have a peaceful life. Two years later, they do get married, and the sole wedding bargain Nick struck with Christianna's dad comes to fruition: Christianna now has to perform with a net. Phew.
Meanwhile, Ms. Steel has overlaid this gripping narrative on a very basic timeline of WWII - the circus performers hear about Kristallnacht! They hear about England declaring war! They hear about Pearl Harbor! Nick and Alex's kids and parents bear the brunt of the war-related action. It's obvious and dumb. The last fifty pages get really, really silly. Aristocrat Alex is caught after blowing up a munitions train (he'd been helping Jews get to Switzerland) by a Nazi colonel to whom he'd given one of his Lippizaners (to get his daughter to safety in England). This happens:
'You traitor!' the colonel said as he drew closer. 'I hate your kind! Always supercilious! You think you're better than everyone else, because you were born with a title and a schloss, and can do anything you want.'
'And you think you can steal it from us, and be one of us. You're not, any more than the Fuehrer. You can't steal it, Colonel. You have to be born to it. That's how it works.'
'You bastard!' the colonel shouted at him, and cocked the pistol he held at Alex's head.
'You can kill me, or drive us out of Germany'. Alex was speaking for Nick then. 'But there are thousands more like us, and we'll win in the end. Truth is mightier than the sword, and so is honor. You can't dishonor us. You can kill us, but there will always be more of us than of you.'
As the colonel fired, so did Alex - not at the man but at the horse, which Alex knew would be the final blow to him, and far more subtle. As Alex fell dead to the ground, so did [the Lippizaner] beneath the colonel. Alex had had the last laugh, and he had chosen the most elegant exit, which was so like him. He was a nobleman to the end.
Then, of course, Nick and crew are caught up in the circus fire of 1944 (each line pulled from this Wikipedia article). War ends. Whilst selling his estate that had conveniently reverted back to him, Nick also manages to contact "a Red Cross group and a Jewish refugee organization, trying to trace his mother, when the war ended...and they told him what he had suspected. She had died with her husband, four children, and several other relatives, including her parents." This is a pretty remarkable find, given that Nick's dad hadn't even told Nick his mother's name and had absolutely no idea where in the world she was, forty years after she'd given birth to Nick and then disappeared.
But with that loose end tied up, Nick's all ready to get his ranch - and Christianna (now mother of his child) is horrified! She can't! She won't! The circus is all she's ever known! After a couple weeks of back and forth, they "came to the conclusion that he hoped to avoid. They were separating. He was going to California with [his one son who hadn't died in the war] to set up a ranch. And she was staying with her family and the circus, and keeping [their daughter] with her. It made his heart ache to lose both of them, but he knew he had to do it....Their paths were going separate ways, and neither of them would be happy doing what the other wanted. They weren't divorcing, but they were separating." DON'T WORRY. Right as Nick is pulling out with his trailer to leave forever, he tells his son to wait, runs back to Christianna, and says, "Okay, I give up. We're staying. We'll stay in the circus forever. I love you." And SHE says, "We're coming to California. We're leaving." WHAT?! "They had each been willing to give up everything they wanted for the other." Oh, okay - true love, I guess. Conveniently, they go his route, off to CA, and "they never looked back."
The last fifteen pages are money - let's get into what the grandkids and great-grandkids are up to. Obviously Aristocrat Alex's widowed daughter Marianne found a US soldier to marry, moved to Virginia with him to raise horses there, and had a daughter named Violet who became an equestrian on the Olympic team and had her own daughter named Nicola (after her great-grandfather Alex's bf Nick). Meanwhile, Nick and his grandson Alex (named after Nick's bf) go on daily rides at their CA ranch while Nick tells stories of the circus. On one such ride one day, Nick "stopped talking, seemed to be resting in his saddle, and the beautiful Lipizzaner he was riding, one of the sons of the great Pegasus, just turned slowly home toward the barn, and Alex's horse followed.
'Grampa's sleeping,' Alex told his father, who saw what had happened. Nick had been busy and alive until the end, in love with his life, happy on his ranch, and passionate about his horses. He had died just the way he would have wanted to, riding a Lipizzaner, cantering across the fields of his ranch with his grandson, and enjoying his life and his world as the sun set on the mountains he had loved.
THEN, THEN, THEN: fast-forward to a crazy horse auction in England, with mad bidding over a particular Lipizzaner stallion. Bidding war between...grandson Alex and great-granddaughter Nicola, who had never met and thought their predecessors' circus stories were just made up! No! It's more than coincidence! It's fate! After a few months, Nicola is conveniently in Alex's CA neighborhood with the horse (also named Pegasus after his grandsire) and stops by.
"I just rode in a show in Santa Barbara, and I knew I had to bring him here. He was meant for you. He doesn't belong to me. He never did."
"Pegasus," Alex said quietly. "Welcome home." He "gave Pegasus his head then, and Nicky followed beside him, as they galloped through the fields. They had come through generations to find each other, and the white stallion that had bound their ancestors to each other and saved three lives had come with them.
Pegasus had come back to them. They slowed their horses to a walk as the barns came into sight, and Alex reached out and gently touched Nicky's cheek. She felt as docile as the stallion when he did it, which wasn't like her. He had a magical touch. 'Welcome home,' he said again. He was saying it to her this time, and as their eyes met, it was the most peaceful feeling in the world... Pegasus had come home."
January 2, 2015
Wow this book was so good, but I definitely recommend some tissue. This is a tear jerker,eye opener about the German war involving Hitler vs.. The Jews. I was so angry with some of things that happened in this book,,Steel did such a good job making the reader experience this awful part if history. I was in the edge of my seat for half this book. It was sad though and now I need a pick me up book! I am never disappointed with Danielle Steel books!
January 12, 2015
I'm always a sucker for a horse story!
But why DS? Why? Why did Alex have to do that?
But why DS? Why? Why did Alex have to do that?
April 20, 2018
I've never read a Danielle Steel book, so apologies for this review if you are a fan. Also the book needed a rant so sorry about the length of the review.
This book follows the lives of two aristocratic German families during World War 2 and how they survive through the war when they are spread across the globe.
The first two chapters were absolute rubbish. I only persevered after them because I am reading 50 horse books through 2018 and I hadn't yet read one aimed at adults. I am glad I persevered though as the story (and writing style) got much better when one of the families fled to America . Unfortunately the pacing of the book was inconsistent, and although Steel wrote lots of backstory for some of the characters, she then seemed to forget about them for hundreds of pages and then kill them off. I swear that about 2/3 of the way through writing the book, she looked at her notes and went "damn, I forgot about those people, I must do something about that" so just randomly inserted paragraphs describing how they'd lived a good life and then got shot by Nazi's/blown up in a plane/went missing at sea. Then characters who were in no way needed in the story *cough* Lucas *cough* seem to live on and on, possibly because they had no point so didn't deserve a paragraph of doom.
I couldn't work out if this book was supposed to be a romance (fail, one character marries two people, but the poor beaus get about a page of backstory each before either being killed or ignored, whilst another character marries a girl who he falls in love with because he got scared for her, oh and she's 20 but looks about 14 so eww) or a multi-generation saga about two aristocratic families (fail, too much plot spent on two characters who both get unceremoniously dumped from the book when the plot gets too hard and the rest of the book turns into a genealogical exercise that I cared nothing for).
I'd suggest skipping chapters 1-2, and skipping the last 2-3 chapters and just focus on the story during the actual war. Also at least one of the characters in the first 5 chapters is going to be ignored for the rest of the book and then die for no reason, so be prepared for that. All the people who get proper death scenes don't have any backstory though so you won't care about them. Also, 2-3 years mysteriously vanish and everyone grew up in one of the chapters. It's like when one of those soap operas on TV decide that having a story with babies isn't good enough so they just replace them all with teenagers over a weekend and you get very confused.
Positives: I learned some things about World War 2, there was a picture of a horse on the cover, I kept calling their famous horse breed "Lipschitz" in my head and singing the song from Chicago every time they were mentioned
Negatives: pacing, inconsistent writing style between chapters, the plot couldn't decide what it wanted to be, characters had amazing stories written about them in the initial chapters and then got ignored, there were characters in there with no point except to progress the story (including husbands, siblings and children), you won't need any tissues as the deaths in the book only happen to people who were there to further the plot, or are so far removed from any part of the book that they were actually in.
I don't believe I'll read another Danielle Steel. 2 stars only because part of the middle was enjoyable.
This book follows the lives of two aristocratic German families during World War 2 and how they survive through the war when they are spread across the globe.
The first two chapters were absolute rubbish. I only persevered after them because I am reading 50 horse books through 2018 and I hadn't yet read one aimed at adults. I am glad I persevered though as the story (and writing style) got much better when one of the families fled to America . Unfortunately the pacing of the book was inconsistent, and although Steel wrote lots of backstory for some of the characters, she then seemed to forget about them for hundreds of pages and then kill them off. I swear that about 2/3 of the way through writing the book, she looked at her notes and went "damn, I forgot about those people, I must do something about that" so just randomly inserted paragraphs describing how they'd lived a good life and then got shot by Nazi's/blown up in a plane/went missing at sea. Then characters who were in no way needed in the story *cough* Lucas *cough* seem to live on and on, possibly because they had no point so didn't deserve a paragraph of doom.
I couldn't work out if this book was supposed to be a romance (fail, one character marries two people, but the poor beaus get about a page of backstory each before either being killed or ignored, whilst another character marries a girl who he falls in love with because he got scared for her, oh and she's 20 but looks about 14 so eww) or a multi-generation saga about two aristocratic families (fail, too much plot spent on two characters who both get unceremoniously dumped from the book when the plot gets too hard and the rest of the book turns into a genealogical exercise that I cared nothing for).
I'd suggest skipping chapters 1-2, and skipping the last 2-3 chapters and just focus on the story during the actual war. Also at least one of the characters in the first 5 chapters is going to be ignored for the rest of the book and then die for no reason, so be prepared for that. All the people who get proper death scenes don't have any backstory though so you won't care about them. Also, 2-3 years mysteriously vanish and everyone grew up in one of the chapters. It's like when one of those soap operas on TV decide that having a story with babies isn't good enough so they just replace them all with teenagers over a weekend and you get very confused.
Positives: I learned some things about World War 2, there was a picture of a horse on the cover, I kept calling their famous horse breed "Lipschitz" in my head and singing the song from Chicago every time they were mentioned
Negatives: pacing, inconsistent writing style between chapters, the plot couldn't decide what it wanted to be, characters had amazing stories written about them in the initial chapters and then got ignored, there were characters in there with no point except to progress the story (including husbands, siblings and children), you won't need any tissues as the deaths in the book only happen to people who were there to further the plot, or are so far removed from any part of the book that they were actually in.
I don't believe I'll read another Danielle Steel. 2 stars only because part of the middle was enjoyable.
July 2, 2015
No, it didn't take me this long to read this drivel, I have just wanted to block it out of my memory. It was super repetitive, poor sentence structure, didn't leave me wanting more after each chapter, I didn't care about any of characters and it could have ended about 50 pages earlier. I don't know why Danielle Steele gets such good reviews until someone pointed out to me that most of her fans aren't big readers and have nothing to compare it to, so to them, this is Shakespeare. I can now say that I have read her, and can now move on.
January 23, 2015
Nick and Alex are titled members of the German aristocracy and have been best friends since childhood as they have grown into men with families of their own. They are accustomed to lives of luxury on their Bavarian estates. Everything Nick knows changes after the Nuremberg Laws are passed and as Hitler's ideals take greater sway over the German people. A secret that his father has kept from him his entire life forces him to take his sons and flee to America to save themselves from labor camps. To get there, he takes a job with the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus based in Sarasota, Florida with a horse act. Alex generously allows Nick to take some of his famous Lipizzaner and Arabian horses and teaches him the basics of training them for show. Eventually, under the name Nick Bing, Nick and his star Lipizzaner, Pegasus, become a star attraction at the circus. Nick also finds love with a tight-rope walker named Christianna who is half his age.
Pegasus is the second novel I've read by Danielle Steel. I wasn't planning on reading another, but a book club I'm in is reading the novel, so, of course, I had to check it out. Honestly, I preferred Echoes, the first book I read. Her newest novel just feels too over-arching and I would have liked to read a more focused story on Nick himself during wartime (at least once he gets to America, that is). If the story were more focused, I believe it could also be much more interesting as a whole. I didn't actually begin to get interested in the story until about twenty pages in when Nick learns the truth about his mother. I would have actually liked to get a full book on that - that could have been a very interesting Downton Abbey-esque story of scandal and coercion. I would have liked to see a more detailed account of the circus, as well.
As for the characters of Nick and Christianna and the rest of the cast, they're alright (if a bit one-dimensional), but none of really stood out to me. I just wasn't invested in them. The romance between Nick and Christianna was sweet, but it seems like every ten seconds he's telling her what she can and cannot do in regards to her act, and that got old fast. And, the 22 year age gap is just a little too much for me, especially when Nick has children just slightly younger than his love interest. The ending of the novel is rushed to tie things up too neatly by condensing approximately sixty years of family history in the final chapter or so.
Overall, I found Pegasus to be boring and predictable, suffering from far to much telling rather than showing. But, hey, it does have a beautiful horse on the cover! If Pegasus were a shorter, more tightly woven, character-driven novel that could show me the struggles the characters face and actually make me care, then I probably would have rated it much higher. Even a book that focused on the history (fictional or real) of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus would have received a better rating. If you generally enjoy the formula that has made Danielle Steel famous, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, or like horses, you may also like Pegasus. My suggestion: Skip Pegasus altogether and read Water For Elephants instead, or even watch the movie because it's actually pretty good.
Note: Is it just me or did anyone else think of Shadowfax, the lord of all horses, when they saw the cover for the first time?
Pegasus is the second novel I've read by Danielle Steel. I wasn't planning on reading another, but a book club I'm in is reading the novel, so, of course, I had to check it out. Honestly, I preferred Echoes, the first book I read. Her newest novel just feels too over-arching and I would have liked to read a more focused story on Nick himself during wartime (at least once he gets to America, that is). If the story were more focused, I believe it could also be much more interesting as a whole. I didn't actually begin to get interested in the story until about twenty pages in when Nick learns the truth about his mother. I would have actually liked to get a full book on that - that could have been a very interesting Downton Abbey-esque story of scandal and coercion. I would have liked to see a more detailed account of the circus, as well.
As for the characters of Nick and Christianna and the rest of the cast, they're alright (if a bit one-dimensional), but none of really stood out to me. I just wasn't invested in them. The romance between Nick and Christianna was sweet, but it seems like every ten seconds he's telling her what she can and cannot do in regards to her act, and that got old fast. And, the 22 year age gap is just a little too much for me, especially when Nick has children just slightly younger than his love interest. The ending of the novel is rushed to tie things up too neatly by condensing approximately sixty years of family history in the final chapter or so.
Overall, I found Pegasus to be boring and predictable, suffering from far to much telling rather than showing. But, hey, it does have a beautiful horse on the cover! If Pegasus were a shorter, more tightly woven, character-driven novel that could show me the struggles the characters face and actually make me care, then I probably would have rated it much higher. Even a book that focused on the history (fictional or real) of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus would have received a better rating. If you generally enjoy the formula that has made Danielle Steel famous, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, or like horses, you may also like Pegasus. My suggestion: Skip Pegasus altogether and read Water For Elephants instead, or even watch the movie because it's actually pretty good.
Note: Is it just me or did anyone else think of Shadowfax, the lord of all horses, when they saw the cover for the first time?
December 15, 2014
Danielle Steel doesn't write a lot of historical novels these days, but when she does, they are always wonderful. Pegasus is no exception. Set against the backdrop of the 1940's and Nazi Germany, it tells the story of two close friends, and the extraordinary breed of horses that were bred by one of them, and saved the life of the other.
Alex and Nick were born and bred to be aristocrats, and not much else. Living on neighboring estates, their days were taken up with riding, hunting, and in Alex's case, training Lipizzaner's, a very special horse breed that is born coal black, and later turns snow white.
When Nick learns from his father that he is 1/4 Jewish and must flee Germany with his sons or risk being sent to a concentration camp, he is stunned. He had never met his mother, who he had been told had died in childbirth and was someone quite different than who she actually was, so learning that she is not only alive, but 1/2 Jewish is a surprise, to say the least. Having to leave his homeland for an uncertain future with no real working skills is an enormous problem for Nick. And then Alex comes up with a solution that involves two special Lippizzaners, emigration to the U.S., and the circus!
The book takes us through the lives and loves of four generations of one family, three of the other, and the connection between them that survives over 75 years, originally forged by Nick and Alex, and their very special horses. This was a wonderful read.
Alex and Nick were born and bred to be aristocrats, and not much else. Living on neighboring estates, their days were taken up with riding, hunting, and in Alex's case, training Lipizzaner's, a very special horse breed that is born coal black, and later turns snow white.
When Nick learns from his father that he is 1/4 Jewish and must flee Germany with his sons or risk being sent to a concentration camp, he is stunned. He had never met his mother, who he had been told had died in childbirth and was someone quite different than who she actually was, so learning that she is not only alive, but 1/2 Jewish is a surprise, to say the least. Having to leave his homeland for an uncertain future with no real working skills is an enormous problem for Nick. And then Alex comes up with a solution that involves two special Lippizzaners, emigration to the U.S., and the circus!
The book takes us through the lives and loves of four generations of one family, three of the other, and the connection between them that survives over 75 years, originally forged by Nick and Alex, and their very special horses. This was a wonderful read.
November 6, 2014
Another wonderful book by this great author. The Nazi Germany background made for a wonderful thought-provoking storyline. I was not expecting the last chapter and will reread it again because I loved it so much!
March 30, 2025
Even shitter than I expected it would be. To be honest, I don't know why I did it in the first place. Generally, I like to give any author a second chance before steering clear of their work altogether. In some cases, this little bit of leniency has paid off - despite the utter trash strewn about their repertoire, you will also find some little gems among writers such as James Patterson, Dean Koontz, and I can't be bothered. Moreover, I might have walked away from some genuinely great writers before giving them enough chances to win me over, such as Michael Crichton and blah-blah-blah, I'm tired.
Danielle Steel has officially blown her second chance. Maybe she has a masterpiece somewhere in that extensive catalogue of hers, but it looks like I won't be stumbling upon it. At least, I hope I don't ever succumb to any perverse temptation to try her a third time. This travesty of a novel came my way right around the end of 2018, and so far, I have managed to avoid her, like the aged but very formidable mother of a girl I broke up in a particularly tactless way.
Of course, I never broke up with anybody - let alone dumped them. I was always too weird and awkward and ugly to have a girlfriend to break up with in the first place, and I would have been too much of a spineless twat to ever do the latter. Once I was in the elevator after work - years ago, when I was a lowly grocery worker - and the only other person in there was this poor girl standing next to me, and she was getting dumped by her boyfriend on the phone. As I stood there squirming and pretending I somehow couldn't hear the entire conversation, wishing I could disappear or become one of the buttons on the wall, this woman of thirty-something years - who, as a point of observation, was fairly large - wept and snivelled into the phone, choking out, "How could you do this to me just before Christmas?"
It took me three or four days to get over the experience. I felt terrible for her, and also like a real scumbag for not - I don't know - somehow saying something to her, some clumsy attempt to cheer her up. Of course, I'm sure my inhibitions were entirely correct in this case. In her then-situation, the last thing she needed was some weedy prick in an oversized Aldi shirt trying his luck on a vulnerable person, which is definitely how it would have looked.
So, yeah, that's Pegasus by Danielle Steel.
Danielle Steel has officially blown her second chance. Maybe she has a masterpiece somewhere in that extensive catalogue of hers, but it looks like I won't be stumbling upon it. At least, I hope I don't ever succumb to any perverse temptation to try her a third time. This travesty of a novel came my way right around the end of 2018, and so far, I have managed to avoid her, like the aged but very formidable mother of a girl I broke up in a particularly tactless way.
Of course, I never broke up with anybody - let alone dumped them. I was always too weird and awkward and ugly to have a girlfriend to break up with in the first place, and I would have been too much of a spineless twat to ever do the latter. Once I was in the elevator after work - years ago, when I was a lowly grocery worker - and the only other person in there was this poor girl standing next to me, and she was getting dumped by her boyfriend on the phone. As I stood there squirming and pretending I somehow couldn't hear the entire conversation, wishing I could disappear or become one of the buttons on the wall, this woman of thirty-something years - who, as a point of observation, was fairly large - wept and snivelled into the phone, choking out, "How could you do this to me just before Christmas?"
It took me three or four days to get over the experience. I felt terrible for her, and also like a real scumbag for not - I don't know - somehow saying something to her, some clumsy attempt to cheer her up. Of course, I'm sure my inhibitions were entirely correct in this case. In her then-situation, the last thing she needed was some weedy prick in an oversized Aldi shirt trying his luck on a vulnerable person, which is definitely how it would have looked.
So, yeah, that's Pegasus by Danielle Steel.
March 15, 2015
I haven't read a Danielle Steel book in over 20 years and this one reminded me why.
This is the most poorly edited book I have ever read. It is full of run-on sentences, sentence fragments and incoherent paragraphs. I would suggest Ms. Steel slow down and write one book at a time so that she can remember what she has written and maybe then won't repeat herself over and over and over and over... If this book was actually edited, then shame on the editor. If Delacorte Press decided that a Danielle Steel book would sell no matter what and therefore didn't need to be edited, shame on them.
The storyline, which had great potential, could have been developed a lot better by someone who actually understood horses, and knew more than a few basic facts about WWII.
This is the most poorly edited book I have ever read. It is full of run-on sentences, sentence fragments and incoherent paragraphs. I would suggest Ms. Steel slow down and write one book at a time so that she can remember what she has written and maybe then won't repeat herself over and over and over and over... If this book was actually edited, then shame on the editor. If Delacorte Press decided that a Danielle Steel book would sell no matter what and therefore didn't need to be edited, shame on them.
The storyline, which had great potential, could have been developed a lot better by someone who actually understood horses, and knew more than a few basic facts about WWII.
March 24, 2015
3.5 stars. Good, but the whole thing felt a bit rushed, too easy, and superficial. People fell in love within a few pages and had no real obstacles to being together. The relationships were trouble free. People lost loves and gained new ones within a few pages. It all felt like an outline, albeit an entertaining one. The ending was sweet and tied things up well. A nice piece of fluff to cleanse your brain between dystopias.
July 27, 2016
Danielle es una increible escritora. En este libro podemos ver una historia llena de amor, pasion, angustia, lagrimas y sufrimiento. Hermoso libro.
June 22, 2017
O impresionantă saga de familie, având acțiunea principală plasată în perioada celui de-al doilea război mondial, purtându-ne - dintr-o Germanie în care hitlerismul făcea ravagii - în Statele Unite, sau în Anglia, urmărind căile pe care îi poartă viața pe protagoniștii cărţii.
Destine frânte, speranțe înșelate, dar și triumful vieții mai presus de toate!
O poveste despre prietenie, curaj, dragoste, sacrificii și onoare, și mai ales despre caractere puternice și puterea incredibilă de regenerare a psihicului uman, despre speranță și dorința de viață ce renaște din cenușă ca pasărea Phoenix.
https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/ari...
Destine frânte, speranțe înșelate, dar și triumful vieții mai presus de toate!
O poveste despre prietenie, curaj, dragoste, sacrificii și onoare, și mai ales despre caractere puternice și puterea incredibilă de regenerare a psihicului uman, despre speranță și dorința de viață ce renaște din cenușă ca pasărea Phoenix.
https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/ari...
December 20, 2014
This book starts out in the mid to late 1930's in Germany where adult friends Alex and Nicholas lead the aristocratic life on beautiful horse farming estates. Alex breeds and trains the famous Lipizzaner Stallions for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Their lives are about to change in ways they can't imagine as Hitler comes to power.
Nicholas gets a total shock when his father informs him that not only did Nicholas' mother NOT die in childbirth when he was born, but that she was also 1/2 Jewish which means that Nicholas and his sons also have Jewish blood in them and will soon be arrested and sent to a camp for undesirables. In order for Nicholas to immigrate to another country with his sons before this happens he needs to have someone on the other end sponsor him.
His friend Alex writes to John Ringling North and offers to send his prize Lipizzaner Stallions to the circus if Ringling Circus will sponsor his friend Nicholas and let him immigrate to the United States which is what happens.
I loved this story that goes through generations. It has been a long time since I've read a Danielle Steel novel and I had forgotten how immersed I get into these characters lives. 12/20 ★★★★★
August 7, 2015
Beautiful book. It seems so many on Goodreads are so critical of Danielle Steel's books, but I love her books, always have. My tastes are so broad in the different books I read, and I find her books refreshing, touching, and many full of families caring for one another. This had the added feature of the horses, the Lipizzaners. Set right before WWII, through WWII, in both Europe and the United States, I felt the anguish of the families and the very difficult choices that had to be made. Absolutely one of my now favorite Danielle Steel's books.
March 28, 2015
Normally I don't read Danielle Steel anymore; however this caught my eye because of the name and then when I opened the fly in the book, it said a man who had to leave Germany because he found out he had Jewish blood and the Nazi's would be coming for him and his two sons. His friend gave him two Lipizzaner horses and six other pure bred Arabian's. I was hooked. The book did not leave me
disappointed. A good read.
disappointed. A good read.
February 28, 2020
what an awesome read from Danielle Steel. Set in the 30s with World War 2 as the backdrop, two friends discover asecret and make the decision to do what they must to survive. this separates them and takes them on different paths. This book was one of the best Steel novels I have read since the Ring though in some ways better because it involves more people than just one family. Highly recommend this book.
May 27, 2015
This was repetitive and in numerous cases grammatically incorrect. I will never again read a book by Danielle Steel.
August 5, 2015
This was AN AMAZING book!
November 15, 2024
Strange historical fiction about horses, the circus and WW2. Few love stories thrown in. Kind of strange but I actually enjoyed it.
January 21, 2015
Another gripping story just like The Ring!
July 16, 2023
3/5⭐
“ No ganas nada en la vida si no te arriesgas”
🐎NO ESTÁ EN ESPAÑOL. Y yo vengo queriendo leerlo y rezando para que lo traduzcan desde que vi su portada hace ya casi diez años.
🐎Una (1) vez al año intento leer una novela de esta autora porque mis inicios como lectora arrancaron con ella en una época en que en la biblioteca de mi ciudad solo había libros de ella y contados de otras autoras de romance.
🐎Ya sabemos como escribe Steel: sus personajes femeninos tienen “piel de porcelana casi translúcida, el cabello rubio casi blanco de su madre y los ojos azul eléctrico de su padre”, y ésta novela tiene una prosa estilo sus viejas historias: MUY dramáticas. Digo esto, porque las últimas novelas que están saliendo en español por suerte, no tienen tanta carga de desgracia.
🐎Pegasus está contextualizada en Alemania bajo el régimen de Hitler; Alex von Hemmerle es conocido por ser uno de los mejores jinetes del condado y que ha estado criando caballos extraordinarios desde que era un niño; Crecido en Schloss Altenberg, como lo habían hecho generaciones de sus antepasados, desde el siglo XIV, y se está ante una novela que muestra cómo los acontecimientos históricos pueden cambiar la vida de una familia acaudalada en donde el dinero no es suficiente para reglas impuestas por el Tercer Reich.
🐎También tenemos a Alex von Hemmerle que junto a Nick son miembros titulados de la aristocracia alemana y han sido mejores amigos desde la infancia. Ambos son viudos y están criando a sus hijos: dos niños varones Nick y, la adorada hija adolescente de Alex, Marianne. Son familias que viven en paz, rodeados de lujo en propiedades que han pertenecido a sus familias durante generaciones. Ambos no tienen ni idea de vivir o de entender el mundo fuera de sus casas lujosas, un mundo completamente diferente como es el mundo del circo por ejemplo, que es un mundo loco totalmente exótico o la vida de personas judías que corren, se escapan, huyen para no terminar en campos de exterminios.
🐎Mientras Nick se entrega a actividades más glamorosas, Alex se dedica a criar los famosos caballos blancos Lipizzanos que cautivan al público de toda Europa con su habilidad para bailar y girar cuando se les ordena, hasta que el padre de Nick le llega una advertencia de un contacto de alto rango dentro de la Wehrmacht: Un secreto del pasado ha dejado a la familia vulnerable a la creciente ola del nazismo: la madre de Nick, a la cual nunca conoció, era judía y esto cambiará rotundamente la vida de Nick y de sus dos hijos y tendrá que huir a Estados Unidos para escapar de los campos de concentración.
🐎Una vez en tierras norteamericanas acepta un trabajo con “Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus” con sede en Florida, gracias a un número de sus famosos caballos caballos árabes y lipizzanos que Alex generosamente le regaló a Nick y le enseña los conceptos básicos para entrenarlos para el espectáculo.
🐎Al salir de Alemania, Nick siente que ha perdido todo a tal punto que decide llamarse Nick Bing, y para su espectáculo en el circo acepta ser presentado como Nick y su estrella Lipizzano, Pegasus; Ambos se convierten en la atracción del circo y pronto Nick encuentra el amor con una equilibrista llamada Christianna que tiene la mitad de su edad.
🐎Y acá me detengo, pero debo decir que la autora desarrolla la historia de Alex en paralelo, pero se centra más en Nick.
🐎Pegasus es una novela MUY triste, que enseña cómo una familia tiene que hacer frente a las adversidades y empezar de cero en un continente totalmente desconocido; pasar del lujo y comodidad a trabajar en un circo, pero es también una bonita historia de amor entre Nick y Christianna. Y a su vez es la historia de Alex, un padre que llegado un momento tiene que dar unos de sus Lipizzanos a cambio de poder sacar a su hija de Alemania con vida.
🐎Vuelvo a repetir: es una novela MUY TRISTE donde el caballo Pegasus tiene participación y también sufre. Y es una pena porque la portada es bellísima y me dio la sensación que estaría ante una novela romántica con aires de cuentos de hadas, cuando en realidad es una historia que se desarrolla bajo el contexto de la Alemania Nazi y, más allá de que algunos personajes han huído, el tema está presente en sus vidas. A lo largo de veintiocho capítulos los personajes no son felices. No era necesario tanto sufrimiento con ciertos personajes. El final es feliz pero quienes conocemos a Steel sabemos cómo son sus finales: son felices y muy acaudalados.
🐎Pegasus es una novela romántica que muestra los dos extremos de la vida que en tiempos de guerra se juntan demasiado rápido: la pérdida de hijos en la guerra y el nacimiento de nietos. Pero es también un libro que nos lleva a través de la vida y los amores de cuatro generaciones de una familia, tres de la otra, y la conexión entre ellos que sobrevive más de setenta y cinco años, que se inició con Nick y Alex, y sus caballos Lipizzanos. Es lo que más me gustó: esa conexión de generaciones.
NO la recomiendo. Ahora urgente a buscar novela romántica que me haga suspirar de amor.
“ No ganas nada en la vida si no te arriesgas”
🐎NO ESTÁ EN ESPAÑOL. Y yo vengo queriendo leerlo y rezando para que lo traduzcan desde que vi su portada hace ya casi diez años.
🐎Una (1) vez al año intento leer una novela de esta autora porque mis inicios como lectora arrancaron con ella en una época en que en la biblioteca de mi ciudad solo había libros de ella y contados de otras autoras de romance.
🐎Ya sabemos como escribe Steel: sus personajes femeninos tienen “piel de porcelana casi translúcida, el cabello rubio casi blanco de su madre y los ojos azul eléctrico de su padre”, y ésta novela tiene una prosa estilo sus viejas historias: MUY dramáticas. Digo esto, porque las últimas novelas que están saliendo en español por suerte, no tienen tanta carga de desgracia.
🐎Pegasus está contextualizada en Alemania bajo el régimen de Hitler; Alex von Hemmerle es conocido por ser uno de los mejores jinetes del condado y que ha estado criando caballos extraordinarios desde que era un niño; Crecido en Schloss Altenberg, como lo habían hecho generaciones de sus antepasados, desde el siglo XIV, y se está ante una novela que muestra cómo los acontecimientos históricos pueden cambiar la vida de una familia acaudalada en donde el dinero no es suficiente para reglas impuestas por el Tercer Reich.
🐎También tenemos a Alex von Hemmerle que junto a Nick son miembros titulados de la aristocracia alemana y han sido mejores amigos desde la infancia. Ambos son viudos y están criando a sus hijos: dos niños varones Nick y, la adorada hija adolescente de Alex, Marianne. Son familias que viven en paz, rodeados de lujo en propiedades que han pertenecido a sus familias durante generaciones. Ambos no tienen ni idea de vivir o de entender el mundo fuera de sus casas lujosas, un mundo completamente diferente como es el mundo del circo por ejemplo, que es un mundo loco totalmente exótico o la vida de personas judías que corren, se escapan, huyen para no terminar en campos de exterminios.
🐎Mientras Nick se entrega a actividades más glamorosas, Alex se dedica a criar los famosos caballos blancos Lipizzanos que cautivan al público de toda Europa con su habilidad para bailar y girar cuando se les ordena, hasta que el padre de Nick le llega una advertencia de un contacto de alto rango dentro de la Wehrmacht: Un secreto del pasado ha dejado a la familia vulnerable a la creciente ola del nazismo: la madre de Nick, a la cual nunca conoció, era judía y esto cambiará rotundamente la vida de Nick y de sus dos hijos y tendrá que huir a Estados Unidos para escapar de los campos de concentración.
🐎Una vez en tierras norteamericanas acepta un trabajo con “Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus” con sede en Florida, gracias a un número de sus famosos caballos caballos árabes y lipizzanos que Alex generosamente le regaló a Nick y le enseña los conceptos básicos para entrenarlos para el espectáculo.
🐎Al salir de Alemania, Nick siente que ha perdido todo a tal punto que decide llamarse Nick Bing, y para su espectáculo en el circo acepta ser presentado como Nick y su estrella Lipizzano, Pegasus; Ambos se convierten en la atracción del circo y pronto Nick encuentra el amor con una equilibrista llamada Christianna que tiene la mitad de su edad.
🐎Y acá me detengo, pero debo decir que la autora desarrolla la historia de Alex en paralelo, pero se centra más en Nick.
🐎Pegasus es una novela MUY triste, que enseña cómo una familia tiene que hacer frente a las adversidades y empezar de cero en un continente totalmente desconocido; pasar del lujo y comodidad a trabajar en un circo, pero es también una bonita historia de amor entre Nick y Christianna. Y a su vez es la historia de Alex, un padre que llegado un momento tiene que dar unos de sus Lipizzanos a cambio de poder sacar a su hija de Alemania con vida.
🐎Vuelvo a repetir: es una novela MUY TRISTE donde el caballo Pegasus tiene participación y también sufre. Y es una pena porque la portada es bellísima y me dio la sensación que estaría ante una novela romántica con aires de cuentos de hadas, cuando en realidad es una historia que se desarrolla bajo el contexto de la Alemania Nazi y, más allá de que algunos personajes han huído, el tema está presente en sus vidas. A lo largo de veintiocho capítulos los personajes no son felices. No era necesario tanto sufrimiento con ciertos personajes. El final es feliz pero quienes conocemos a Steel sabemos cómo son sus finales: son felices y muy acaudalados.
🐎Pegasus es una novela romántica que muestra los dos extremos de la vida que en tiempos de guerra se juntan demasiado rápido: la pérdida de hijos en la guerra y el nacimiento de nietos. Pero es también un libro que nos lleva a través de la vida y los amores de cuatro generaciones de una familia, tres de la otra, y la conexión entre ellos que sobrevive más de setenta y cinco años, que se inició con Nick y Alex, y sus caballos Lipizzanos. Es lo que más me gustó: esa conexión de generaciones.
NO la recomiendo. Ahora urgente a buscar novela romántica que me haga suspirar de amor.
August 9, 2017
The book Pegasus was written by an author named Danielle Steel. The story consists of two families, one of the families was Jewish and the other family was Christian. The Jewish family struggled because they they were Jewish and Hitler was the leader. The story occurred in World War ll. The two German families were widowed men that became friends. Nick had two daughters and he raised them on a family farm that they had owned for generations. While the family lived on the farm, Alex chose to spend her time breeding the Lipizzaner horses that are capable of doing tricks.
Everything was fine for Nick's little family of three until his father got a warning from the Wehrmacht that Nick's mother was a Jewish descendent. After he got the notice, he took his family on a ship and they take several Lipizzaner horses with them. Their house and farm were taken over by the Natzis. Meanwhile, they left their father in Germany, who later died from pneumonia. After the family got to America, they joined a circus and they were called the best act. They they lived with the circus and performed with their horses. At the very end of the story, Nick falls in love with a trapeze artist and they get married.
Everything was fine for Nick's little family of three until his father got a warning from the Wehrmacht that Nick's mother was a Jewish descendent. After he got the notice, he took his family on a ship and they take several Lipizzaner horses with them. Their house and farm were taken over by the Natzis. Meanwhile, they left their father in Germany, who later died from pneumonia. After the family got to America, they joined a circus and they were called the best act. They they lived with the circus and performed with their horses. At the very end of the story, Nick falls in love with a trapeze artist and they get married.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2024
I loved this book. Danielle Steel tells it how it is. Her characters face terrible tragedies and grief to get through. All that they face is what happens to the human race and is based on fact. Danielle never honey coats the facts. I certainly resonated with the death of a Son and a newborn baby being born the day after her daddy has died. So sad, but life. What this Author does, so well, is take you through the personal tragedies and shows you that life does go on and their lives may never be the same again, but you will find an alternative happiness without forgetting what went before. The characters in this book are strong. Pegasus, the horse, is strong too, and can seem to fly and helps his owners to fly too. The book spans a whole lifetime. A very good book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2025
Before reading the book, I've read a few negative reviews. And at the beginning I agreed with them. The story wasn't about Second World War, Jews or Nazis. It was about circus. It wasn't boring but also it wasn't something I was looking for. However, later story of the characters who stayed in Europe became more important/took a bigger part of the book. I couldn't really put the book down then. I'd say I give 3 stars for the 1st half and 4 stars for the 2nd half.
dnf
December 12, 2019I wonder if her name wasn’t attached to this, would it have even been published?
I suppose I’ve always been a critic of Mrs. Steel. Just because she can write several books in a year doesn’t mean they’re spectacular. *shrug*
I suppose I’ve always been a critic of Mrs. Steel. Just because she can write several books in a year doesn’t mean they’re spectacular. *shrug*
February 17, 2018
Easy to read combining romance, sorrow and heartbreak. I enjoyed it because of the involvement of the horses.
December 17, 2018
I felt like an idiot explaining the plot to someone.
May 27, 2017
Yeah, I'm done with Danielle Steel. Get a better ghostwriter for Christ's sake!
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