Product Description

Now in paperback, this is the story of an extraordinary boy with a brilliant mind, a heart of gold and a tortured soul. It is the story of an illness, a fight to live and a race against death. From the day he was born, Nick Traina was his mother's joy. By nineteen he was dead. Danielle Steel tells her story of the son she lost to manic depression.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55746 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 415 pages

From the Back Cover
This is the story of an extraordinary boy with a brilliant mind, a heart of gold, and a tortured soul...

From the day that he was born, Nick Traina was his mother's joy. By nineteen, he was dead. He rocketed through life like a shooting star. He spoke in full sentences at the age of one; he was a brilliant, charming child who never slept. His gift for writing was extraordinary, his musical talent promised a golden future. But by the time he entered junior high school, Danielle Steel saw her beloved son hurtling towards disaster and tried desperately to get Nick the help he needed - the opening salvoes of what would become a ferocious, pitched battle for his life.

Even as he struggled, Nick's charisma and accomplishments remained undimmed. He bared his soul in his journal with uncanny insight, in searing prose, poetry and song. When he was finally diagnosed and treated, it bought time, but too little. In the end, perhaps nothing could have saved him from the insidious disease that had shadowed him from his earliest years.

This is Danielle Steel's powerful story of the son she lost and the lessons she learned during his courageous battle against darkness. At once a loving legacy and an unsparing depiction of a devastating illness, Danielle Steel's tribute to her lost son is a gift of life, hope, healing and understanding to us all.

About the Author
Danielle Steel
Danilelle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's most popular authors, with over 450 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Lone Eagle, Journey, The House on Hope Street, The Wedding, Irresistible Forces, Granny Dan, Bittersweet, The Klone and I, Mirror Image, The Long Road Home, The Ghost and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death.

Customer Reviews

Excellent and very moving book
As I am a Danielle Steel fan I picked up this book and at first did not realise it was the life of her son Nick Trainer.This book touched my soul like no other book ever would. My husband was a manic depressive and in 1996 he was diaganosed with the illness. I had always beleived my husband was just a lively and unpredictable man with severe mood swings which caused my life to be very disturbing, but even so I loved my husband very much and rode along with him with whatever he brought into our life.I can relate with Danielle Steels life living with her son and this book many times brought tears to my eyes. Sadly my husband refused to believe he was ill and by not taking his medication became a different person. In 1996 after 17 years of marriage I left him and blamed myself.As Danielle Steel felt helpless so did I.When you live with a depressed person and they are quiet you can cope,but when they are manic and not aware of their actions you are incapable of helping them and at times living with them. The book described a manic depressive very accurately and I could relate to this completely. Sadly my husband took his life in 1998 he was only 40. When I started to read this book and look back on my years since I was 15 with my husband I realised that he had probably always been a manic depressive like Nick Trainer, but everyone just thought what a wacky person and a great laugh he was.Many times since I have thought"If Only" but I know now this illness was out of my power to control it. I have heard since that Manic Depressives are now monitered with their medication and called back for blood test to monitor their medication and it can be proven if they are not taking it, this in itself will hopefully save lives from being taken before their time. Danielle Steels book make me understand this illness better, I just wish that the mental health team had given me the insight and help to deal with it. Many things in her book made me think of my husband and say "thats him"The saddest thing is Manic Depressives deep down know that they are ill but will not acknowledge it and that is where it all falls apart. I could write a book on my life but I feel by reading Nick!s life that it has already been done for me. Danielle Steel must have found this book hard to write but for anybody who has experienced this illness it would help them understand that " they know not what they do"

A truly heart wrenching story
What an absolutely amazing woman DS is. I read this book in a couple of hours without stopping with abundant tears and smiles. I did not know anything about bipolar disease before reading this book and now feel as though i know Nick Traina first hand. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Danielle Steel novels or anyone who has an interest in bipolar disease or manic depression. Again Danielle Steel has not disappointed as i am sure she will not in further novels to be written.

Outstanding!
As with all Danielle Steel books I was hooked from the first few words. How this women can have lived through those harrowing years and come out the other side, as she has done, is an inspiration to us all. This book gives a valuable insight into Manic Depression/Bipolar Disease that I otherwise would never have had. My thoughts are with any other family who has to live through the same trauma's and anxietes that Danielle and her family did. God Bless them all.