Princess Daisy

by Judith Krantz

She was born Princess Marguerite Alexandrovna Valensky. But everyone called her Daisy. She was a blonde beauty living in a world of aristocrats and countless wealthy. Her father was a prince, a Russian nobleman. Her mother was an American movie goddess. Men desired her. Women envied her. Daisy's life was a fairy tale filled with parties and balls, priceless jewels, money and love. Then, suddenly, the fairy tale ended. And Princess Daisy had to start again, with nothing--except the secret she guarded from the day she was born.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Historical

478 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Judith Krantz was an American author of blockbuster romance novels including her first novel Scruples followed by Princess Daisy. Krantz's books have been translated into 52 languages and sold more than 85 million copies worldwide. Seven have been adapted as TV miniseries, with her late husband, Steve Krantz.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

That lunchtime, all the women at work were talking about Princess Daisy, so I thought: what the hell, I'll read it. Some kind person lent me her copy. It's a strange book. The story-line and the characters are a ridiculous mishmash of stock elements, haphazardly spliced together: a playboy father, a beautiful mother, a cruel half-brother who incestuously rapes her, a brain-damaged younger sister she has to take care of. People keep falling in love, getting tragically killed, losing their money in stock crashes, and things like that. Her portrayal of the British upper classes simply defies description.

The weirdest thing of all, however, is that even though most of it is just nonsense cobbled together from movies and trash novels, she actually does know a lot about fashion. (She was a fashion journalist for a long time). So you'll be having some absurd seduction scene, and suddenly she'll break off for a detailed, apparently very sophisticated description of what the woman is wearing. I was reminded of the Monty Python sketch where they present a hard-boiled detective story with the focus mostly on what the wallpaper looks like. If you're the sort of person who enjoys leafing though old copies of Vogue (one of my best friends does), it's by no means impossible that you will enjoy this book!

[boogenhagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still reread this on occasion - utterly whacktastic and an absolute trainwreck of typhoonic proportions, but so much fun to read and then read again.

JK was one of the best at the 80's boinkbuster, she is kinda like HPlandia on steroids with an order of megamagnitude.

[msjoonee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some situations were meant for the trashy novel. Beaches. Airplanes. Visa appointments. Judith Krantz is one of the best writers in this genre (yes, to me trashy novel is a genre) and "Princess Daisy" is the perfect combination of glamorous people, soap opera worthy plots and just enough sleaze. In the '80s, this was the sort of thing we read when we got past our Sweet Dreams/Sweet Valley High years and I have to say it beats Chick Lit (which to me was never a genre) by a mile.

When i say "trashy novel", i do not mean "trashy writing". Judith Krantz is actually a really good writer. She really takes you away and she can spin quite a story. The book spans continents and generations and is an epic tale about the life of a beautiful princess whose life takes several dramatic and unexpected turns. There are secrets! Betrayals! Affairs! Exotic locations! It's the literary equivalent of Spam...totally unnatural, probably very bad for you but SO YUMMY!

I'll probably be in the mood to read this again someday but as it is the sort of book that always finds its way to Book Sale counters, I'm pretty sure i can find it again when i need it. In the meantime, "Princess Daisy" is up for grabs to the first person who decides to surrender to it. :)

Don't overthink it, don't go all intellectual on it. Just grab a cocktail, kick back and enioy the ride.

UP FOR GRABS!

[Naksed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I snuck from my aunt's bookshelves when I was a poorly supervised early teen-ager :-) Looking back on it, it is a total campfest however I have to say that at the time, it fascinated me to no end and I think I ended up permanently hiding it and re-reading it many times. The high rating is a shout-out to those years where I was tentatively trying to explore the "forbidden fruit" through the safest way imaginable, the pages of a book, and Princess Daisy delivered on all fronts. I will always have a fond memory of this book and Judith Krantz for that reason.

[Pooja Peravali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Princess Daisy should by all means lead a charmed life - with a Russian prince and a movie star for parents, born into the wealthiest echelons of society. But her secrets weigh her down.

I'm not going to call it trashy or silly because it seems like everyone has done that, as though they need to excuse themselves for enjoying non-highbrow literature.

It's a good book. The characters are compelling and the plot sweeps you along in the very best soap opera style. The plot does take a while to get going and the action feels unevenly paced, though. Still, I devoured this book in a day. Also, I thought the matter of sexual assault and misplaced shame was handled quite sensitively for the time.

[Margitte]

Pure nostalgia drives me to adding these books to my reading lists. Once upon a time it was one of the best books I've ever read. But that was when I was trying to find my own identity.

[Mariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The movie is even more fun. Ringo Starr is in it (for those like me who love to watch him in lots of bad movies), and Rupert Everett manages to appear both gay and hot for his sister at the same time.

[Rhianna Schoonover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one a long, LONG, time ago when I was a teenager. Its a good book for a teenager who wants very little meat to their book, but a lot of juicy. Like a lite beer, no calories & less filling.

I will say that I remember this book, its characters, settings, and plot like the day I first read it. That stands to reason Judith Krantz is a good writer, it does stick with you when you've read it.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a good mental read. If you want some fluff that is just fun to read, this is a good book for you.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This week’s blog entry is dedicated yet again to the oeuvre of Judith Krantz, most specifically to PRINCESS DAISY, one of...
http://sleaze-factor.blogspot.ca/2016...

[Rebecca Huston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creampuff contemporary romance novel full of family secrets, too beautiful heroine and plenty of scenery chewing. Still fun, however.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the kind of romance novel that gives romance novels a good name. The people are glamorous whether they're wealthy or poor. The locations are evocative - New York, Venice, London, central coast of California. The plot is not about getting the guy but about the girl coming into her own. The bad guys are vanguished, the good guys come back from the brink of ruin and everything ends happily.

I read this book because it was mentioned in Dark Currents as the main character's namesake and her mother's favorite book. My life hasn't been enriched by reading it but my time was spent pleasantly.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this book reads like a flash back, and it's quite disconcerting. In the first chapter, we meet 23-year-old Daisy setting up a shoot for a commercial. A few paragraphs later, her parents are posing with Infant Daisy for Life magazine. The second chapter begins to describe how Daisy's parents met, then rather abruptly skips back again in time to explain both of their childhoods. The book proceeds loosely chronologically from there, but even in 495 pages, that's a lot of time to cover. Therefore, most of the information is presented in a rather dry narrative, pausing here and there to include a scene or two of action or dialogue. The reader just barely gets interested in the current cast of characters and what's going on with Daisy before skipping ahead to the next important event in her life. Finally, by Chapter 14, we're back to the scene from Chapter 1, where Daisy's producing a commercial. Finally, the reader thinks, all will be action. Instead, this pattern continues, introducing each new character with tons of backstory, and staging very little of the "action" in front of the reader.
It was really very exhausting to read and took quite a long time, which was surprising, because I very recently read another book by this author that was almost a hundred pages longer, but took me almost a week less to read.
The plot of the book, which was mostly just the life of the main character, with a lot of interpersonal (and intrapersonal) conflict, was decent enough. Daisy herself was quite compelling. I'd just have liked less background information on everyone around her and more about her. Her dynamism doesn't really show until the very end of the book, and seems almost abrupt, like the climax was rushed. One of her main adversaries is neutralized in a very confusing way, that really did not seem true to the character, and her stunning realization about herself took place just pages before the end of the book. I would have liked to know more about how Daisy continues, more of an epilogue. This is the only way in which this book fails to give enough explanation. It's almost as if some editor decided the thing was getting to long and cut off the author before she was finished.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judith Krantz taught me everything I ever needed to know about the international jet set, the fabulous excess of the late 70/early 80s, and eurotrash. I give my eternal thanks to her. Even though her books are ridiculous I totally adore them.

I kind of feel like SNL's Stefon saying this but this book has everything: a gorgeous impoverished princess that hypnotizes every man she meets. A dashing international playboy who plays polo and is apparently a sexual wizard. A gorgeous film star. An honest-to-God courtesan. Glamorous playgrounds around the world. Incest. Hidden children. Horses. Art. A prowling lesbian. lots of information about the cosmetics industry. Tons of name dropping ... I could go on but just do yourself a favor and buy a copy at Goodwill, make yourself a cocktail and enjoy the ride!

[Ronald Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book a long time in my collection of undetermined source. Krantz's fictitious version of a princess in America, supposedly inspired by the story of Grace Kelly. About two thirds through this book I had yet to find a character with whom I could identify — all royalty and/or extremely wealthy and powerful. It contained, however, one of the best written seduction scenes I've ever read, and, I have to admit, I shed a couple of tears during the last few pages. I enjoyed it enough to add the author's other books to my reading list.

[Kitty Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holding the mother of all unpopular opinions, I was totally fascinated by the character of Ram and loved the intensity of his every scene with Daisy. Basically if this book was all about Daisy and Ram it would get a very bias 100/5 and probably be my most favorite ill-fated (and ill-conceived) love- er- love is not the right word- relationship of faux pas and obsession story of all time.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this one when I was a teenager and decided to revisit it. it was probably one of the first "trashy" novels I ever read. I remember I loved the movie. the book was as I remembered, long and very detailed and a good way to pass time and escape for a while. sometimes you need a fluff book in between the classics and serious books.

[Anna Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of blah blah blah after the first third. Having read this previously, ages ago, I skimmed most of the second half, Daisy's life in advertising far more in depth than I thought necessary. The end, however, was as stirring as always.

[Risampm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes. This is a totally cheesy book. I found it in a library on vacation when I was like 17 and I loved it. LOVED it. I love to reread it. It is the perfect combo of romance, cheese and hilarity. Great for a summer read, not great for an in depth conversation.

[Ljstubbs · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a pile of trashy junk. Thank goodness my taste has developed and my patience has waned.

[Alex (Alex's Version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like nachos out of the microwave, this book is quick, simple, and a little too cheesy, but also enjoyable and without regrets. It served it's purpose.

[jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A basically interesting story larded with flowery, overly dramatic language. It sometimes reads like a "J Crewe" catalog, wherein a scene is interrupted by a pointlessly detailed description of a dress, sweater or a pair of pants. One last thought: reading the recent obituary of Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy's younger sister, I've come to believe "Princess Daisy" is a 'Roman a clef' of Lee Radziwill's life, or at least a roughly parallel story.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book and a good miniseries with Lindsay Wager, Stacy Keech, Robert Urich. A movie star marries an exiled Russian Prince. They have twin daughters, but when he sees that one of this is mentally retarded, he institutionalizes her and tells the mother that she died. When she later discovers that he lied to her, she leaves him and moves back to the states. She is killed and the twins are returned to Europe where he once again separates them. The movie scene of the separation was wrenching. Daisy, the normal one, grows to love her father, but he is killed in a plane crash when she is a teenager. Her older evil brother (played masterfully by Rupert Everett in the movie) is named executor of the estate and controls all of the money. He incestually falls in love with Daisy and rapes her, she leaves and eventually makes it one her own, falls in love with Robert Urich's character and lives happily ever after.

[LemontreeLime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because it was mentioned in another book i recently read, and because I had never actually read a Judith Krantz novel. This one is from 1980, and it is thick with seventies culture but also with words. Krantz doesn't let a reader get away with imagining a scene: she tells you what they were wearing, eating, thinking, sitting on, the house the dog the car the landscape and the internal musings ALL are explained in detail again and again. Great characters. It wasn't bad, just not the style of writing that i normally read. My mom loved this one, and when she saw i was reading it she gushed 'Oh i loved that book!! I respected Daisy so much, she had such a hard life and worked so hard!' Which surprised me more than anything else, my mom remembered the plot of a popular novel from 30 years before. That says something in it's favor.

[Bookish]

Be still my heart, this one is a classic. First published in 1980, Princess Daisy was a very big part of my introduction to the romance genre. The story has stuck with me, even all these years later. It’s got everything: glamour, angst, romance, a hidden twin, and as many twists and turns as an epic melodrama. Plus there’s a beautiful princess with a tragic past and a heart of gold. She loses everything and is forced to rebuild her life as a commoner who paints portraits for a living. I haven’t looked at this book in over a decade, and I can still remember the final scene with perfect clarity. That’s the mark of a great story! —Teri Wilson (https://www.bookish.com/articles/hidd...)

[Bhumika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read! Love books that change the way I look at life but sadly this was not one of it. But overall a good read. Fun!

[Ann Sumner · Rating 2 out of 5]

What can I say? It was the 70s, I was young and reading all this low-brow stuff and I liked it, dammit!

[Başak Ebru Tarım · Rating 4 out of 5]

e yayınlarından çıkan Papatya Prenses isimli kitabı bulamadığım için ingilizcesini kullandım.

Kitabın yazarı Judith Krantz 1928 doğumlu bir gazeteci. Magazin yazarlığı ve moda editörlüğü yaparken 50 yaşından sonra kitap yazmaya başlamış. İlk romanıyla uluslararası çok satanlar arasına giren yazarın ikinci kitabı Papatya Prenses de 1980 yılında çıkmış. O dönem kitap dünya çapında 35 milyon satmış.
Kitap Rus Prensesi ünvanını taşıyan Daisy Valensky ve üç kuşak ailesinin hayatına odaklanıyor. Çarlık Rusyasının görkemli günlerinden başlayan hikaye, devrimden önce, ailenin sağlık nedeniyle İsveç'e göçmesiyle farklı bir mecrada ilerliyor. Daisy de Amerikalı Oscarlı bir film yıldızı ve bir Rus prensin kızı olarak ağzında gümüş kaşığıyla doğuyor. Bebekliğinden itibaren gören herkesi kendine hayran bırakan güzeller güzeli Daisy'nin hayatı hep başladığı gibi gitmiyor. İnişliler, çıkışlar, kayıplar birbirini izliyor. Daisy babasından kendine kalan serveti kaybedince kendi hayatını kazanmak zorunda kalıyor ve kendini reklam dünyasında, zorlu bir çalışma hayatının içinde buluyor.
Her türlü ışıltılı hayatın yanı sıra, hem reklam dünyasının hem de kozmetik sanayinin sırlarını ortaya döken, aşklarla, entrikalarla örülmüş bir roman Papatya Prenses. Yazarın detaylı anlatımı sayesinde görkemli balolar, birbirinden güzel mekanlar, zarif sofralar, son moda kıyafetler, tüller, danteller, taftalar, polo maçları, atlar, av partileri zihnimde canlanıyor, film şeridi gibi akıp gidiyor.
Kitabı keyifle okudum. Ama sanırım best sellerların da modası var. Kitap şimdi basılsa yine 35 milyon satar mıydı bilemiyorum.
Bu arada Judith Krantz'ın kitaplarını Nadirlitapta 3-10 tl aralığında bulabilirsiniz. Ben de bir kaç tane aldım. Aralara sıkıştırmayı düşünüyorum.

[Jena]

DNF around 80%.
the book dragged, the writing style is quite dated, and it reads like a women’s fiction from the 90s. It does not have a romance novel vibe.

The books over 1000pages on my ereader full of boring description of every little thing, and I mean every little detail.
You get 200 pages of getting to know the MCs grandparents (completely pointless),
Then 150 pages about the parents. (Maybe the grandparents were the parents still lol, I had to put this book down a few times from boredom over the months)

Why do we even need to learn about them so thoroughly? They were boring rich ppl and didn’t add anything to the Story. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I ended up skimming most of it after the 40%.

Here’s the meat of the story.
The h is a beautiful girl, and her half brother is in love with her and rapes her (for a week).
The most interesting character in the entire book was the pyscho half brother Ram. His twisted and sick love for his sister, honestly I know he was fucked up, but I felt sorry for him, he was mental and damaged and interesting.

After a week together they -rapist brother and Daisy the h - spent the entire book apart. 🤷🏻‍♀️


I don’t think there is a HEA for the psycho brother (h falls in love with a normal man and has a HEA with him), but I didn’t care enough to read the last chapter.

Daisy was kind and beautiful and …not memorable. Open any romance novel and you’ll meet Daisy.
This book should’ve been called Prince Ram, when he stopped showing up, that’s when I lost all interest in the book.🙄

I think a lot of people are giving this a high rating from nostalgia.

[Jane Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was younger and I loved it. I learned alot from Judith Krantz style of writing. Her use of description is exquisite I like her full well rounded characters. I am inspired by the dark beauty of her almost adult fairy tale like books. Princess Daisy is a tale of a young woman of Romanoff origins. The story is realistic the hidden trama she goes through concealing rape which I can relate to. Forbidden family secrets, incest it has a bit of everything! I highly recommend this underated novel.

[Claire McElwain · Rating 5 out of 5]

yay this was a good book. shout out mike for the recommendation. it felt like it did take quite a long time to read but i think that’s just cause it’s a longer book than i normally read. i liked all the characters and i thought it had a great ending. there’s one character i wish we’d gotten a resolution on but that’s small stuff it’s okay. it was very well written. would recommend for sure.