Olympia Crawford Rubinstein has a busy legal career, a solid marriage, and a way of managing her thriving family with grace, humor, and boundless energy. With twin daughters finishing high school, a son at Dartmouth, and a kindergartner from her second marriage, there seems to be no challenge to which Olympia cannot rise. Until one sunny day in May, when she opens an invitation for her daughters to attend the most exclusive coming-out ball in New York–and chaos erupts all around her. One twin’s excitement is balanced by the other’s outrage; her previous husband’s profound snobbism is in sharp contrast to her current husband’s flat refusal to attend.

For Olympia’s husband, Harry, whose parents survived the Holocaust, the idea of a blue-blood debutante ball is abhorrent. Her daughter Veronica, a natural-born rebel, agrees–while Veronica’s identical twin, Virginia, is already shopping for the perfect dress. Then there’s Olympia’s ex, an insufferable snob, who sees the ball as the perfect opportunity for a family feud. And amid all the hubbub, Olympia’s college-age son, Charlie, is facing a turning point in his life–and may need his mother more than ever. But despite it all, Olympia is determined to steer her family through the event until, just days before the cotillion, things begin to unravel with alarming speed.

From a son’s crisis to a daughter’s heartbreak, from a case of the chicken pox to a political debate raging in her household, Olympia is on the verge of surrender. And that is when, in a series of startling choices and changes of heart, family, friends, and even a blue-haired teenager all find a way to turn a night of calamity into an evening of magic. As old wounds are healed, barriers are shattered and new traditions are born, and a debutante ball becomes a catalyst for change, revelation, acceptance, and love.

In a novel that is by turns profound, poignant, moving, and warmly funny, Danielle Steel tells the story of an extraordinary family–finding new ways of letting go, stepping up, and coming out...in the ways that matter most.


From the Hardcover edition.

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK. IT GOT TO THE POINT FROM THE VERY BEGINING. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE WHO LIKES TO READ BOOKS THAT GETS TO THE POINT.

OK,let's be honest.There ARE better books out there by Danielle Steel(like "Echoes"-one of her best so far).But I enjoyed reading "Coming Out" anyway.Even if the story is some kind of predictable,I couldn't put it down.Again Ms. Steel created a bunch of interesting characters.The only let down for me was that the book had only 191 pages.

Danielle Steel is an excellent writer with a huge production. Perhaps one cannot expect that every one of her books should be five stars unputdownable.

This one is not. There are too many typical Danielle Steel clichés in this book to make you feel you are reading a fresh new piece of work. I felt I had read most of it before and although there ARE family problems to be solved, they hardly seem as earth shattering as the synopsis indicates.

The people in this book are well educated middle upper class, or even "blue blooded". The young people go to Europe in summer and meet the rest of the family who holidays in St. Tropez, Monaco etc. etc.

An invitation for heroine Olympia's twin daughters to a coming out ball is the main issue in the book and becomes a huge family problem. Not the most serious situation for a family to deal with since coming out balls is a rather old fashioned upper class affair; even if the twins are from a previous marriage and father/step father highly disagree about the matter. As do the twins themselves. Neither is choice of ivy leage university and which one of the divorced parents (who can both very well afford it) should pay the tuition, the toughest problem for a family to handle. Apart from the background of the older Jewish members of the family and some of the young people's struggle in finding their place in life and modern society, the family seems privileged and blessed in every way.

What makes the book readable in spite of the nearly non-existing storyline, is Danielle Steel's unique talent as a writer. She has the ability to create entertainment from the "thinnest" material and make the characters come amazingly alive.

I quite enjoyed this book. Far from first class reading, but ok when you simply need to relax with something light and predictable.

I have to say that if this was the first Danielle Steel book I had ever read, I would absolutely hate her writing. I just finished this book, and I feel just a little dumber for having read it.

I sat down to read a good romance novel by a good author and was just flat out disappointed. It was just plain boring. Stick to her old classics, and don't waste your money on this.

I am a fan of Steel but thought this book was almost written in a rush. It didn't have any of the usual twists and turns.... It seems like in her latest novels where Steel has to write in present modern times that she loses what was so brilliantly hers in her earlier novels - elegance. Another recent one called "The House" had me feeling the same thing. She shouldn't try try and be all "hip" and "cool" and just stick to what she knows...