I enjoyed reading the book No Greater Love, by Danielle Steel. It was about a girl who lost her parents and fiance in the titanic disaster and then had to raise her five younger brothers and sisters. Many people are interested in the Titanic's first voyage. However, some people think only of that one night and not of the nights that followed for those who survived. This book showed how Edwina Winfield and her younger siblings had to cope, not only with that fateful night, but also with the effects that the sinking of the Titanic brought them. One problem I did have with the book was the relationship between the members of the Winfield family. When Edwina's parents and her fiance, Charles, were alive, it seemed that every other word in the book was "happy" or "content". She constantly wrote of the love they had for each other. They never fought or argued and they had only love for their family. That's hard to believe. I have yet to see only family that is perfect-without bickering, fighting, or yelling. I know I love my family very much and we have a great relationship but we still argue. Every family has their problems. I believe Danielle Steel wrote of the Winfields like this to express the drastic change they met after the sinking of the Titanic. However, it was almost impossible to relate to the Winfields because of their unreal relationship with each other. My favorite character was Alexis. Steel described her as special and different from the rest of her family. She was six years old when her parents died and ,of all the Winfield children, she effected the most. She had a very special bond with her mother. She rarely left her side and she hated strangers. When she returned home after her parents' deaths, she was always looking for them, expecting them to just show up. She would often go into her parents' room and sit in her mother's dressing room. The actions of Alexis helped me to understand how the Winfield children felt after their parents had died. One of the most touching scenes in the book was when the Titanic was sinking. Alexis had ran away from her parents and had gone back to their stateroom. Her parents had no idea where she was. They finally decided to put the other children on a lifeboat and then they would come later with Alexis. When the lifeboat was being lowered, Edwina saw the golden curl of a girl she thought to be Alexis in her boat. She motioned to her mother on deck and pointed to the little girl. Assuming this was Alexis, she stopped looking for her. However, Alexis was playing with a doll in her room while the agony was going on above her. The reader does not know if she will survive and is kept in suspense until a man finds her and takes her to a lifeboat. Another very touching scene was when Edwina received her wedding veil from Charles's mother. She received it a day before her and Charles's wedding was supposed to be. All the emotions come back to Edwina and the description of the scene helped me to feel for Edwina. I think this is a wonderful story that shows how family should stick together above all else. Edwina was there for her younger siblings because she loved them and knew that's what she needed to do. Accept for Steel's depiction of the Winfield family before the disaster, I think she did a great job of making the reader relate to Edwina and feel for her siblings. There was not one day that went by that Edwina did not think of how her life would have been different if there had been enough lifeboats or if the Californian had heard their distress calls. I think Steel wanted to show people that there was more to the Titanic disaster than one night. The effects of that night lasted forever-not for the fictional Winfield family, but for the real survivors of the Titanic.

This was my first Danielle Steel novel I read, however, having read some of the negative reviews it recieved, I would have to disagree. I decided to read this book not because I was curious about Ms. Steel, but because I am a Titanic freak, and when I heard that she had written a book about the famous ship disaster, I immediately ran out and bought it. At first I was disappointed, because the actual ship disaster happened before I was through 1/4 of the book, and other Titanic books I have read in the past have depicted the entire tragety from cover to cover, but I really admired Edwina for selflessly giving up her personal happiness to raise her five brothers and sisters. I think Danielle Steel tried to depict Edwina's mother as a heroine for romanticly going down on the ship with her husband, but I found her to be quite selfish for that! She left behind 6 children, the youngest being only two years old! Although I don't have children of my own, I am one of those people who believe that one's children should be their top priority, and when given the chance to live, you should jump at it! Overall, this book had everything: you will laugh out loud, cry out loud, and most of all, you won't be able to put it down!

From the tone of some of the other reviews, it's apparent that the reviewers didn't check the publication date of this book -- written LOOOONG before Leo and Kate jumped on board the "Titanic" and made a little movie. When I read the book all those years ago, I didn't know much about the "Titanic" or the historical details that may be inaccurate in this novel, so in fairness perhaps that's why my enjoyment wasn't diminished at all. The sinking of the ship occurs very early in the book, and the reason for that is that it is a story about how this disaster affected one family long-term. I found Edwina to be a very realistic character -- more realistic than most of Ms. Steel's heroines. She was concerned with keeping the family together and due to the selfishness of her mother (going down with the ship and her husband), she is forced to grow up too soon and be a mother to 5 children. She does the best that she can but they are only children for so long -- then they grow up and want to live their lives independently, leaving Edwina feeling abandoned and proud at the same time, and realizing that it is finally "her time" to live life. I've read this several times and I always enjoy it.

I read both this book and its carbon copy, The Sex-Starved Marriage by Michele Weiner-Davis, hoping to find some help for my own low-/no-sex marriage, and found absolutely none at all. They did not even begin to address my situation. They deal strictly with sexual techniques and completely avoid the deeper relational and emotional issues that drive couples, like me and my wife, apart. I would not recommend these books to anyone.