Beauty For Ashes

Blue by Danielle Steel is a contemporary tale of loss, guilt, forgiveness and new beginnings. It has some difficult issues and is a love story with a difference.

Blue has the theme of loss. Ginny lost her husband and son, Blue lost his mother. Both are thrown together by circumstances. Can they help each other heal?

There is the theme of guilt. Past incidents mean both Blue and Ginny feel guilt, and not just guilt, they feel worthless. Ginny tries to assuage her guilt with humanitarian work. She tries to save people one at a time. “You can’t heal all of the broken and wounded in the world.” Working her way in the hope of feeling better about herself is futile.

Blue is used to people leaving him. He feels unloved and isolated. He expects people to leave him and is unused to commitment. “People always say they’re coming back and never do.” He needs to learn to trust and have a reason to belong.

The novel tackles the uncomfortable themes of attempted suicide and abuse within the Catholic church. This does make for difficult reading at times but Danielle Steel presents the issues sensitively.

Over the whole of the novel there is the sense of love. Love can come in many forms. The love that develops in Blue is very beautiful and pierces the reader’s heart.

I really enjoyed Blue. It was a compulsive read and I can highly recommend it.

JULIA WILSON