Echoes (novel)

Echoes is a novel by Danielle Steel, published by Random House in October 2004. The book is Steel's sixty-fourth novel.

Synopsis

In the summer of 1915, Beata Wittgenstein falls in love with a young Catholic French officer and follows her heart to be with him against the wishes of her Jewish Orthodox family and decides to live with him in Switzerland till World War 1 ends. After the war gets over, she goes back to Germany with her husband Antoine and her 2 year old daughter Amadea. They begin a peaceful life and after 8 years, she has her second daughter, Daphne. Antoine dies soon after his father's death and his fortune as a Count is passed on to Beata, allowing her to take care of her family for years. However, after the death of her husband, she drifts away from her daughters and it is only when Amadea decides to become a nun, that she realizes her duty. As the war threatens her daughters, Beata's views of the future change. She is not discovered as a Jewish-born, but when a woman from her past recognizes her, Beata and Daphne are arrested and sent to a concentration camp.

Amadea, a Carmelite nun is saved as she had stayed in the convent but is still forced into hiding as her friends disappear without a trace. She is sent to a concentration camp and escapes with the help of a German soldier. But, when he tries to rape her, she kills him and flees the country with the help of Partisans. As she flees and crosses the country ravaged by war, she decides to become an agent and falls for a British secret agent Rupert Montgomery. In love, Amadea begins to understand the ways of life and how love can echo through the generations.

Footnotes

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/steel/bookshelf/display.pperl?isbn=9780385336345