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Granny Dan
In my eyes she had always been old, always been mine, always been Granny Dan. But in another time, another place, there had been dancing, people, laughter, love. . . . She had had another life before she came to us, long before she came to me. . . .
She was the cherished grandmother who sang songs in Russian, loved to roller-skate, and spoke little of her past. But when Granny Dan died, all that remained was a box wrapped in brown paper, tied with string. Inside, an old pair of satin toe shoes, a gold locket, and a stack of letters tied with ribbon. It was her legacy, her secret past, waiting to be discovered by the granddaughter who loved her but never really knew her. It was a story waiting to be told. . . .
The year was 1902. A new century was dawning as a motherless young girl arrived at a ballet school in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the age of seven. By age seventeen, Danina Petroskova had become a great ballerina, a favorite of the Czar and Czarina, who welcomed her into the heart of the Imperial family. But events both near and far away shook the ground upon which she danced. A war, an extraordinary man, and a devastating illness altered the course of her life. And when revolution shattered Russia, Danina Petroskova was forced to make a heartbreaking choice--as the world around her was about to change forever.
Granny Dan is about the magic of history. In it, Danielle Steel reminds us how little we know of those who came before us--and how, if we could only glimpse into their early lives, and see who they once were, there is so much we would understand and learn. For in this extraordinary novel, a simple box, filled with mementos from a grandmother, offers the greatest legacy of all: an unexpected gift of a life transformed, a long-forgotten history of youth and beauty, love and dreams.
She was the cherished grandmother who sang songs in Russian, loved to roller-skate, and spoke little of her past. But when Granny Dan died, all that remained was a box wrapped in brown paper, tied with string. Inside, an old pair of satin toe shoes, a gold locket, and a stack of letters tied with ribbon. It was her legacy, her secret past, waiting to be discovered by the granddaughter who loved her but never really knew her. It was a story waiting to be told. . . .
The year was 1902. A new century was dawning as a motherless young girl arrived at a ballet school in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the age of seven. By age seventeen, Danina Petroskova had become a great ballerina, a favorite of the Czar and Czarina, who welcomed her into the heart of the Imperial family. But events both near and far away shook the ground upon which she danced. A war, an extraordinary man, and a devastating illness altered the course of her life. And when revolution shattered Russia, Danina Petroskova was forced to make a heartbreaking choice--as the world around her was about to change forever.
Granny Dan is about the magic of history. In it, Danielle Steel reminds us how little we know of those who came before us--and how, if we could only glimpse into their early lives, and see who they once were, there is so much we would understand and learn. For in this extraordinary novel, a simple box, filled with mementos from a grandmother, offers the greatest legacy of all: an unexpected gift of a life transformed, a long-forgotten history of youth and beauty, love and dreams.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 429 reviews
January 20, 2019
An amazing read!
It's an easy and enjoyable book to read...(paperback!)
It's an easy and enjoyable book to read...(paperback!)
February 19, 2019
Summed in one word... Painful. Thanks for nothing Ms. Steel. 0 of 10 stars
February 27, 2023
This is the first book I have read written by the author.
It was so good. In three words: Simple, satirical and memorable.
It is the story of Danina Peteoskova who got married too young for the sake of surviving during the times of war.
She left her home young, got settled in another country.
The story is told from the perspective of her granddaughter who has seen her as the same old granny as all grandmothers are.
What unfolds is the great story hidden in the box left behind by her grandmother.
What's inside the box tells the tale of a great woman who was just quite the opposite of who she has known all her life.
A pair of satin ballet shoes, a gold locket and the precious stack of letters!
*The book is so good. I loved the way this book was written : vivid, simple yet captivating!
This is an emotionally packed drama/fiction that made me want more of this book. *Rating: 5/5🌟
Recommended👍
It was so good. In three words: Simple, satirical and memorable.
It is the story of Danina Peteoskova who got married too young for the sake of surviving during the times of war.
She left her home young, got settled in another country.
The story is told from the perspective of her granddaughter who has seen her as the same old granny as all grandmothers are.
What unfolds is the great story hidden in the box left behind by her grandmother.
What's inside the box tells the tale of a great woman who was just quite the opposite of who she has known all her life.
A pair of satin ballet shoes, a gold locket and the precious stack of letters!
*The book is so good. I loved the way this book was written : vivid, simple yet captivating!
This is an emotionally packed drama/fiction that made me want more of this book. *Rating: 5/5🌟
Recommended👍
July 9, 2022
This is a Historical Fiction. I have to say the beginning of this book pulled me into the book, and it had me wanting to know all about Granny Dan. This book takes place in Russia during the first part of the 1900's. The main character of this book is Danina Petroskova. I have to say this story was everything I want from a historical fiction. This story touched my heart, and I loved Danina's character. Danina was so strong and had so much life. I think this book also shows us that out Grandparents all lived a life before we know them, and we may not know about that life.
March 22, 2020
Easy, quick read to escape to for a few hours. I liked the story and the transporting back to a time of revolution in Russia really added to the story. It will make you wonder for a bit about what stories there are about your grandparents that you never heard. Personally, the most interesting I can think of, I never heard, but seen pictures of my grandmother young and tipsy dancing on a table in Hawaii. So who knows what stories they hold that we never hear. The romance is interesting in this one but the circumstances that surround the characters could hold back readers from falling for this couple. I do like how the story came back to the present (which is where the book started) but the epilogue’s placement comes off kind of rushed. Good way to pass a few hours.
August 10, 2012
I'll start off with the positives: the storyline kept my attention enough for me to finish the novels & I liked the epilogue.
That about sums up my positives.
I have a very, very hard time liking a novel where adultery is justified (if you've read my past book reviews you'll notice a pattern concerning that topic). Even if the book is fantastic, when the author tries to convince the reader that the character's love affair was okay because...such & such...it's a dealbreaker for me.
Having lost my own Grandma very recently, I loved the idea of your Grandma having a past before you came into the picture. Danielle Steel hit it right on the mark when she wrote that, "as grandchildren, you always think of your grandparents as old, you forget that they were young once." So very true! This book is a good reminder to anyone that has grandparents still alive, to listen to their stories & find out who they were before even your parents were a thought in their mind. Once they're gone, their stories are gone too.
I like Danielle Steel (obviously, I've read quite a few of her novels), but you can tell this was one of her earlier books. I know the novel wasn't about the granddaughter, but I would've liked her character developed a little more. I didn't get a "feel" for who she was before the novel jumped right into Granny Dan's story & the only time she re-appeared was in the epilogue to sum up what happened after Granny Dan came to America. It was an easy novel to figure out, of course the prologue gave most of it away, but there wasn't any big surprises. And I kind of like surprises in my novels.
Danina, aka Granny Dan, was more sick & needed more emergency doctor care than anybody I've ever heard of (I guess read of :)...everytime you turned a page she was facing some kind of life or death medical disaster that needed her adulturous lover/doctor to come rescue her out of. That got annoying. And I'm so tired of reading romanc-y novels where one character is being unfaithful to their spouse....seriously??? That must be the only way to be romantic nowadays is to be an adulterer. I found it kind of creepy that Nikolai kept talking about how beautiful & "childlike" Danina was (after all he was 20yrs older than her 19yr old self)...anytime a guy refers to his lover as having a childlike body & personality...creepy! Even if she is legal. And Danielle Steel wrote Nikolai's wife to be so hard-nosed, boring, blah blah blah...in order to justify his affair with Danina, annoyed me! I was pretty much appaled by the whole situation.
Overall, I would not recommend this book UNLESS you enjoy reading fiction novels with the backdrop of wartime Russia during the early 20th century. Personally, I don't know anything about that time period in Russian history so the political events, political figures & war battles that were taking place I had zero knowledge of & couldn't even understand the big names, let alone pronounce if I had to, the names/events that were dropped.
3/5 stars.... :)
That about sums up my positives.
I have a very, very hard time liking a novel where adultery is justified (if you've read my past book reviews you'll notice a pattern concerning that topic). Even if the book is fantastic, when the author tries to convince the reader that the character's love affair was okay because...such & such...it's a dealbreaker for me.
Having lost my own Grandma very recently, I loved the idea of your Grandma having a past before you came into the picture. Danielle Steel hit it right on the mark when she wrote that, "as grandchildren, you always think of your grandparents as old, you forget that they were young once." So very true! This book is a good reminder to anyone that has grandparents still alive, to listen to their stories & find out who they were before even your parents were a thought in their mind. Once they're gone, their stories are gone too.
I like Danielle Steel (obviously, I've read quite a few of her novels), but you can tell this was one of her earlier books. I know the novel wasn't about the granddaughter, but I would've liked her character developed a little more. I didn't get a "feel" for who she was before the novel jumped right into Granny Dan's story & the only time she re-appeared was in the epilogue to sum up what happened after Granny Dan came to America. It was an easy novel to figure out, of course the prologue gave most of it away, but there wasn't any big surprises. And I kind of like surprises in my novels.
Danina, aka Granny Dan, was more sick & needed more emergency doctor care than anybody I've ever heard of (I guess read of :)...everytime you turned a page she was facing some kind of life or death medical disaster that needed her adulturous lover/doctor to come rescue her out of. That got annoying. And I'm so tired of reading romanc-y novels where one character is being unfaithful to their spouse....seriously??? That must be the only way to be romantic nowadays is to be an adulterer. I found it kind of creepy that Nikolai kept talking about how beautiful & "childlike" Danina was (after all he was 20yrs older than her 19yr old self)...anytime a guy refers to his lover as having a childlike body & personality...creepy! Even if she is legal. And Danielle Steel wrote Nikolai's wife to be so hard-nosed, boring, blah blah blah...in order to justify his affair with Danina, annoyed me! I was pretty much appaled by the whole situation.
Overall, I would not recommend this book UNLESS you enjoy reading fiction novels with the backdrop of wartime Russia during the early 20th century. Personally, I don't know anything about that time period in Russian history so the political events, political figures & war battles that were taking place I had zero knowledge of & couldn't even understand the big names, let alone pronounce if I had to, the names/events that were dropped.
3/5 stars.... :)
March 6, 2015
I found the story interesting but the writing horrible. She just repeats everything and only writes platitudes.
April 15, 2010
This is the only Danielle Steel book I've read and it's doubtful I'll be reading others. I'm probably the only reviewer who thought this book was terrible. Besides that the storyline was nothing short of gag-inducing, there were so many run-on sentences it didn't even seem like the book had been edited. It was supremely awful.
August 15, 2010
This will be the last Danielle Steele book I ever intend to read. She's so one dimensional. There's so much more she could do with her plot and characters and she wastes all of it on trite writing.
February 17, 2020
Empieza muy bien, pero es que se vuelve un dramon sin beberlo ni comerlo que pa que... con final dramático no vaya a ser que no concuerde con el resto del libro. Lo bueno que tiene es que no es largo y te puedes plantear leerlo entero.
Este es el enlace a mi canal de youtube,del enlace a las lecturas de enero, por favor echar un vistazo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJicW...
Este es el enlace a mi canal de youtube,del enlace a las lecturas de enero, por favor echar un vistazo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJicW...
June 21, 2014
I read this book when I was fourteen. It was the first Danielle Steel book I saw in my life and Degas painting I had a lot of attention. So after much insisting my mother finally bought it. I never thought at that time that I would meet a beautiful story about ballet, nostalgia and imperial Russia of the last tsars.
Although it's in the first person by a witness narrator, it makes clear that the story is about her grandmother, or as she knew, Granny Dan an "eccentric" woman who cooked biscuits on skates, who laughed a lot and had an air of being a very special woman, but that so dazzling exterior is also synonymous with a sea of secrets and unknown life. Who was Granny Dan?, Why never find work before her death?, Perhaps because easily take for granted to a person, especially our grandparents. The well known adult with his gray hair and wrinkles, while we even imagine that were so born. But we could never imagine that lives can be incredible sometimes hide in some people. It's the door that opens Danielle Steel when the granddaughter of Dan found the letters of her grandmother and ballet shoes. That's when Granny Dan stops being eccentric grandmother and becomes Danina Petroskova, prima ballerina of the Russian ballet company and favorite of the tsars of Europe, spending time with them like a second family. It's the beginning of a story that I found very touching and very well written, especially because I admire greatly authors who dare to put real historical characters and give them life accurately without making a change or result in poorly portrayed. I felt I was in Imperial Russia and Danina felt love for ballet and who was his doctor, but begins to be something else. Happiness and sadness are flanking both boards whose backdrop is one of the biggest social changes that culminated in the Russian Revolution.
Maybe not many like it, but I was intrigued when I read it and that is why I started reading the other books in Steel and for the same reason that I rate it with five stars.
Although it's in the first person by a witness narrator, it makes clear that the story is about her grandmother, or as she knew, Granny Dan an "eccentric" woman who cooked biscuits on skates, who laughed a lot and had an air of being a very special woman, but that so dazzling exterior is also synonymous with a sea of secrets and unknown life. Who was Granny Dan?, Why never find work before her death?, Perhaps because easily take for granted to a person, especially our grandparents. The well known adult with his gray hair and wrinkles, while we even imagine that were so born. But we could never imagine that lives can be incredible sometimes hide in some people. It's the door that opens Danielle Steel when the granddaughter of Dan found the letters of her grandmother and ballet shoes. That's when Granny Dan stops being eccentric grandmother and becomes Danina Petroskova, prima ballerina of the Russian ballet company and favorite of the tsars of Europe, spending time with them like a second family. It's the beginning of a story that I found very touching and very well written, especially because I admire greatly authors who dare to put real historical characters and give them life accurately without making a change or result in poorly portrayed. I felt I was in Imperial Russia and Danina felt love for ballet and who was his doctor, but begins to be something else. Happiness and sadness are flanking both boards whose backdrop is one of the biggest social changes that culminated in the Russian Revolution.
Maybe not many like it, but I was intrigued when I read it and that is why I started reading the other books in Steel and for the same reason that I rate it with five stars.
June 5, 2016
Nisam ljubitelj knjiga Danijele ali u ovoj sam uživala. Tema je sve ono o čemu volim da čitam; 1902. godina, Sankt Petersburg, balet, Rusija, roman o čaroliji istorije, neočekivane promjene u životu, zaboravljena priča o mladosti i ljepoti, ljubavi i snovima. ★★★★★
April 15, 2022
This is my second re-read and use to be one of my favorites from Danielle's collection. Second time around I still liked it, but found it lacking a good epic love story.
July 16, 2010
A different kind of Danielle Steele read
July 27, 2020
Great story but a little boring 👍
January 27, 2018
She was known as Granny Dan to her adored granddaughter, the one who loved to go skating with her and play, but when she passed away this granddaughter realized she knew nothing about her life. Then she received a call from the nursing home where she lived the last year of her life, telling her that a box remained in the back of Granny Dan's closet. Inside the box was a worn pair of toe shoes, a Russian program to a ballet, a gold locket, and many letters written in Russian. She decides to have the letters translated.
Granny Dan, born Danina Petroskova, was born in Russia. This much was known, but there was much to learn about this grandmother who raised a family in Vermont, and the book takes us back in time as we discover the younger life of someone dearly loved, but with many secrets waiting to be discovered.
Granny Dan, born Danina Petroskova, was born in Russia. This much was known, but there was much to learn about this grandmother who raised a family in Vermont, and the book takes us back in time as we discover the younger life of someone dearly loved, but with many secrets waiting to be discovered.
August 17, 2021
Bittersweet story!
December 16, 2017
The introduction chapter was beautiful. I think the experience of failing to see an old person as anything but old, failing to see that spark of who they once were, is very common. I related to that narrator's experience and I was excited to learn about how Danina differed from Granny Dan.
The first few chapters were beautiful too. Steel paints a beautiful image of Russia and of the ballet. Danina's family is charming. Young Danina is charming. I enjoyed spending time with these characters and their idealistic lifestyle.
The story started going downhill once Nikolai came into play. If I were to have set the book down the moment I became bored with it, I might have given it 3 stars. But, I believe a reader should hear all that a book has to offer before it can be rated. In that spirit, I will attempt to be as fair and thorough with this review as possible.
There are many things that frustrate me about this book, but the number one frustration is the agency of Danina. Most things seem to be decided for her by luck, circumstance, or Nikolai. Also, she has no faults. So, to move the plot along, she gets sick . . . a lot. Your character's main hubris cannot be illness. She is even supper accomodating. Whenever she disagrees with someone, she ends up conceeding. Like, she didn't want to go to Vermont. Or she didn't want to miss ballet when she was sick. Or she didn't want to date Nikolai to begin with. It doesn't take her very long to just abandon those convictions.
The first few chapters were beautiful too. Steel paints a beautiful image of Russia and of the ballet. Danina's family is charming. Young Danina is charming. I enjoyed spending time with these characters and their idealistic lifestyle.
The story started going downhill once Nikolai came into play. If I were to have set the book down the moment I became bored with it, I might have given it 3 stars. But, I believe a reader should hear all that a book has to offer before it can be rated. In that spirit, I will attempt to be as fair and thorough with this review as possible.
There are many things that frustrate me about this book, but the number one frustration is the agency of Danina. Most things seem to be decided for her by luck, circumstance, or Nikolai. Also, she has no faults. So, to move the plot along, she gets sick . . . a lot. Your character's main hubris cannot be illness. She is even supper accomodating. Whenever she disagrees with someone, she ends up conceeding. Like, she didn't want to go to Vermont. Or she didn't want to miss ballet when she was sick. Or she didn't want to date Nikolai to begin with. It doesn't take her very long to just abandon those convictions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2013
I have only read one Danielle Steel book before, and that was "Happy Birthday". I was mega impressed by it, so when my friend Sara gave me a copy of "Granny Dan" I was eager to read it. And although it wasn't as memorable or lasting to me as "Happy Birthday" was, I will admit I was entertained the entire book and read it in two sittings. It was a page turner, but I didn't find anything super unique about the story. I almost feel like there should have been half a book more of the story.
We are taken to turn of the century Russia to learn about "Granny Dan", the nickname for Russian primo ballerina Danina. It discusses her early childhood in the ballet. After a near-death experience she is cared for by Nikolai, the doctor of the Czar, she is torn between a life with the royals and going back to the life she loved at the ballet. Her decision is complicated, because her love for Nikolai is holding her back...but he is married with kids.
I was sort of vague at my explanation of the plot, but it is one of those plots that would give too much away if I said much more. I also don't have much more to say, it was a good read and perfect as a cabin read while relaxing 4th of July weekend. So Sara, I do appreciate the read, and am very happy I had such a fun book to read while on vacation. It may not be "Happy Birthday", but I still enjoyed this one as well.
We are taken to turn of the century Russia to learn about "Granny Dan", the nickname for Russian primo ballerina Danina. It discusses her early childhood in the ballet. After a near-death experience she is cared for by Nikolai, the doctor of the Czar, she is torn between a life with the royals and going back to the life she loved at the ballet. Her decision is complicated, because her love for Nikolai is holding her back...but he is married with kids.
I was sort of vague at my explanation of the plot, but it is one of those plots that would give too much away if I said much more. I also don't have much more to say, it was a good read and perfect as a cabin read while relaxing 4th of July weekend. So Sara, I do appreciate the read, and am very happy I had such a fun book to read while on vacation. It may not be "Happy Birthday", but I still enjoyed this one as well.
June 22, 2017
I've only read a few Danielle Steel novels but so far they have all been about same.
1. A great forbidden love - check
2. The couple must make a long journey in order to be together - check
3. They will be staying with a relative of the male love interest - check
4. - check
5. - check
So though this was a decent book and Ms Steel is a great writer she is starting to slack in her creativity. It's just the same story but set in a different country. But I guess I can understand after writing a gazillion novels thinking up something new could start to become difficult.
1. A great forbidden love - check
2. The couple must make a long journey in order to be together - check
3. They will be staying with a relative of the male love interest - check
4. - check
5. - check
So though this was a decent book and Ms Steel is a great writer she is starting to slack in her creativity. It's just the same story but set in a different country. But I guess I can understand after writing a gazillion novels thinking up something new could start to become difficult.
January 6, 2016
Sou grande apreciadora dos livros de Danielle Steel e apesar de este não ser um dos meus favoritos, gostei bastante.
Trata-se de um romance um tanto dramático, que aborda o fascinante mundo do ballet tendo como pano de fundo a Rússia czarista em inícios do século XX. Apreciei imenso as referências históricas e o meu interesse foi aumentando ao longo do livro, pois estava ansiosa por saber como iria acabar a história da protagonista, Danina Petroskova...
Trata-se de um romance um tanto dramático, que aborda o fascinante mundo do ballet tendo como pano de fundo a Rússia czarista em inícios do século XX. Apreciei imenso as referências históricas e o meu interesse foi aumentando ao longo do livro, pois estava ansiosa por saber como iria acabar a história da protagonista, Danina Petroskova...
October 6, 2021
I remember the title but that's all. I keep thinking I will be able to at least recall some of my older books, but it's not the case! Once added I at least must have known a star rating?!
Read
February 16, 2022A sad but enchanting little romance that takes us to the time of Russia revolution and to the stages of russian ballet.
December 14, 2018
Danina Petroskova was Granny Dan. The year was 1902. Danina, at the age of seven, went to a ballet school in St. Petersburg Russia.
A war, an extraordinary man, and a devastating illness altered the course of her life.
I so love Steel's writing. She goes deep into the character and brings the person alive. It's as though I knew Granny Dan. Everyone has a story, especially those that have lived a long life.
The story begins with a simple box filled with mementos from a grandmother. Yet, nothing in the story is simple. I'll remember this book for a long time and think of the period of history in a different light.
A war, an extraordinary man, and a devastating illness altered the course of her life.
I so love Steel's writing. She goes deep into the character and brings the person alive. It's as though I knew Granny Dan. Everyone has a story, especially those that have lived a long life.
The story begins with a simple box filled with mementos from a grandmother. Yet, nothing in the story is simple. I'll remember this book for a long time and think of the period of history in a different light.
January 6, 2023
I have not read Danielle Steel in a long time, but I found this on my bookshelf and I love reading about Russia and the Czar’s, so I thought that I would give it a try. It was a very engaging story about Danina, who is placed at a ballerina school after her mom dies. She grows up to be a prima ballerina and then meets a doctor, whom she falls in love with.
This was a quick and enjoyable read!
This was a quick and enjoyable read!
January 18, 2024
Ok. Now, I can say that I've read a Danielle Steel book. I was assured that this was one of her better ones.
Granny, in her youth, met a married man twice her age, and had a tragic love affair. There was her young 19 year old "creamy bosom," an awful abortion that almost killed her, and the Russian revolution that inevitably claimed her lover.
I rolled my eyes often, and with great abandon. I probably looked a little like Ace Ventura, honestly.
Granny, in her youth, met a married man twice her age, and had a tragic love affair. There was her young 19 year old "creamy bosom," an awful abortion that almost killed her, and the Russian revolution that inevitably claimed her lover.
I rolled my eyes often, and with great abandon. I probably looked a little like Ace Ventura, honestly.
September 11, 2023
I mean…god bless Danielle Steel. One of the most prolific writers of our time?!? I love the idea of learning about the paths our grandparents took in life…just not sure I would have been prepared for all that unfolded in these pages. 225 ish pages…not my usual read. Always good to try new styles of writing.
November 1, 2017
Very sentimental book....My 2 passions entertwined, ballet and Historical fiction! I see that some people think that Danielle Steel is corny.....in world of Violence and crime and hate.. corny is a relief! Loved it!
February 9, 2020
Mooi verhaal.
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