The Wedding is Danielle Steel's 48th novel of the lives and loves of America's beautiful people, and fans of Steel's recipe for glamour won't be disappointed. The Wedding's heroine is the young, "long, lean and beautiful" Allegra Steinberg, Hollywood attorney to and confidante of the stars, whose books include Bram Morrison, "one of rock music's great heroes", and the dashingly handsome actor Alan Carr, whose number "half the women in America would have given their right arm for". All seems well in Allegra's Ferre wearing, Mercedes-driving world. Her charming father, Simon Steinberg, is apparently happily married to her beautiful mother Blaire Scott, and the nominee for a clutch of Golden Globe awards as one of Hollywood's most successful movie producers. Allegra's "clean-cut and preppy" boyfriend Brandon Edwards seems to be all that she could want. However, in the space of several whirlwind days jetting from east to west coast, Allegra makes an unpleasant discovery about her father, and has a fateful encounter in New York with the "long and lean" writer Jeff Hamilton which will change her life forever. Steel sets in motion an emotional roller-coaster which engulfs a dazzling collection of glamorous friends, family and lovers, as the search is on for wedded bliss. -Lucy Snowe.

Steel's 51st novel, Lone Eagle, is centrally concerned with a man-although a characteristic Steel heroine does power the action. The novel starts in the 1940s, when Kate Jamison meets and falls in love with flyer Joe Albright (the "Lone Eagle" of the title). Joe has created a considerable name for himself in flying circles with his daring aeronautical adventures and radical aircraft design (there is more than a touch of the legendary Howard Hughes about the character). Steel traces the turbulent, on-again, off-again relationship throughout the dark days of the Second World War. Kate is ready for marriage, hoping to set the seal on the long relationship, but Joe's visionary nature still drives him into the skies, and the aviation empire he has created consumes his life. They separate, but when a chance encounter brings them together, they realise that their passion is undimmed, and it is time to resolve their relationship-one way or another. Steel has always been aware that a vividly realised backdrop is essential to keep her larger-than-life characters in focus. The war, of course, is sure-fire for such purposes, but a carefully researched aviation scene gives strength and truthfulness to the detail. Kate may be a familiar Steel heroine, but Joe (with his combination of vision and ambition) is something new for her, and is brought off with considerable aplomb. The whole tale has a restless energy that makes its 400 pages seem like a much shorter novel. [+]