- Paperback
- Publisher: Down There Press (August 1993)
- ISBN-10: 0913666033
- ISBN-13: 978-0913666036
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Steel deviates sharply from her usual romance formula in this tender if sometimes sappy story about bad things happening to good people. It's 1952, and the Whittakers are the perfect happy family. But when five-year-old Annie dies of meningitis the day after Christmas, their lives fall apart. Teenager Tommy begins frequenting a diner where he meets 16-year-old waitress Maribeth Robertson, who's pregnant and has been thrown out of her home. The two lonely adolescents slowly fall in love; Tommy offers to marry Maribeth, but she refuses, claiming that they are too young to be parents; she plans to give the child up for adoption. Meanwhile, Tommy's parents have drifted far apart, but the fear that their son may soon be a father temporarily reunites them. Eventually, the Whittakers, parents and son, help Maribeth to cope with her pregnancy and her family's rejection, while she helps them accept the death of their beloved Annie. Reading more like a novella than a full-fledged novel, the narrative has well-meaning characters, uplifting sentiments and a few moments that could make a stone weep. Nice as it is, however, her fans will no doubt crave for the day when Steel returns to her tried-and-true one-woman/two-great-loves potboilers. One million first printing; major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doub le day Book Club main selections; simultaneous Spanish edition, El Regalo, available in trade paper (
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
In reviewing the last few Steel novels, Booklist has tried to make the argument that the author and her readers deserve more respect than they get. Steel does not exploit the romance genre for its racy, dark, or semipornographic underpinnings; she has taken one element of the medieval love-tale, adapted its gentle, loving, and hopeful outlook to the modern world, and produced a satisfying set of variations on her theme. The Gift is Steel to perfection. A small work, it tells the tale of two 16-year-olds whose meeting restores life to both. The death of Tommy's little sister wrecks a family's happiness. The unwanted pregnancy of Maribeth threatens to ruin her attempt to lift herself out of an anti-intellectual and sexist environment. But when the two meet, love, support, sensitivity, and some much-needed wisdom redeem the bleak circumstances of their lives and bring the story to its satisfying conclusion. Clich{‚}ed, sentimental? Maybe, but Steel believes in the goodness of her characters and here, more than ever before, shows absolute faith in a simple tale of rewarded virtue. This is the author at her best: mature, to the point, refreshed by the tale of her young lovers. Not great art, perhaps, but in its own way almost perfect. Stuart Whitwell
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Annie Whittaker loved everything about Christmas. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Annie Whittaker loved everything about Christmas. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read....... yet a tad bit predictable,
By booklover (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Gift (Mass Market Paperback)
I really liked this book. I found it quite enjoyable, except I already knew what was going to happen a little while after starting it. Also, it left me wondering what happened to Tommy and Maribeth at the end. Did she come back to visit? Did they get married? I would reccomend it though, because it was a great story.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple Gifts,
By pisces (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Gift (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm taking one star off only because this novel wasn't really a page turner. It wasn't the kind of book you just have to finish in one sitting, the way I'd expect to with one of the shorter Danielle Steel novels such as this one. It was very easy to put down, and took me quite a bit of time to finish because the story was so predictable that you already knew what was going to happen and were not necessarily compelled to turn pages.Nevertheless, what I did read, when I decided to pick it up, was somewhat poignant and tender in a very simple and childish way. This novel would be good for teens as it deals with high schoolers who are in love and one teenager in particular, who gets herself into unfortunate circumstances, and then meets up with a sympathetic family that is going through it's own trauma. I can't really go further in describing the plot without giving away the whole story. I think four stars is actually a bit generous. Still, the heartbreaking nature of the emotions the characters experience, even though Steel has a simplistic way of writing about them, provide enough warm and fuzzies which allow the reader to experience heartfelt emotion right along with the characters. Think Nicholas Sparks "A Walk To Remember", even though in that novel, the teens experienced totally different issues. Steel's writing doesn't come close to the thought provoking and efficient nature of Sparks. But, the emotions and the fact that both novels deal with teens make both "A Walk..." and "The Gift" slightly similar.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Poignantly Romantic Tearjerker,
By AlettaJohnson "A Homebound Reader" (Oklahoma County, OK USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Gift (Hardcover)
I don't remember the last time a book made me cry so, much. 'The Gift' is a wonderful book to read. You fall in love with Maribeth & Tommy, as they're falling in love with each other.
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