Zoya
Danielle Steel
Language: English
Pages: 500
ISBN: 0440203856
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and World War I Europe, Zoya, young cousin to the Tsar, flees St. Petersburg to Paris to find safety. Her entire world forever changed, she faces hard times and joins the Ballet Russe in Paris. And then, when life is kind to her, Zoya moves on to a new and glittering life in New York. The days of ease are all too brief as the Depression strikes, and she loses everything yet again. It is her career, and the man she meets in the course of it, which ultimately save her, as she rebuilds her life through the war years and beyond. And it is her family that comes to mean everything to her. From the roaring twenties to the 1980's, Zoya remains a rare and spirited woman whose legacy will live on.
was feeling guiltier than ever about the long hours she worked at the store. “I don’t think you should have to,” Simon said honestly, angry at Sasha himself for the first time. “At almost fourteen, she should be able to behave herself until six o’clock when we both get home.” Although he knew that sometimes Zoya didn’t get home until after seven. There was always so much to do at the store, so many alterations she wanted to oversee herself, and special orders she wrote up herself so there would
warning Mashka not to use this as an excuse to cheat at tennis again, as they had both done the summer before, while playing at Livadia with two of Marie’s sisters. It was their favorite game, and Marie was better than the rest of them, although Zoya always threatened to beat her. “… I will come out to see you as soon as your Mama and the doctor will let me. With all my heart, your loving Zoya.…” That afternoon, Zoya saw her brother again, which at least distracted her, and while waiting for
mind racing. They reached the main floor, and she looked up, startled to see hordes of her employees, standing there, many of them crying openly. She shook their hands, smiled, kissed one or two, and then suddenly, it was over, she and the child were on Fifth Avenue, as she waved the driver away. She didn’t want to drive anywhere. They were going for a long walk, as Zoe rattled on excitedly about the trip. “And then … we could go to Moscow!…” Her eyes danced, just as Zoya’s did as she listened.
smaller than Marie, and even more delicate, although Marie was considered the family beauty. She had her father’s startling blue eyes, and his charm. And she loved jewels and pretty clothes far more than her sisters. It was a passion she shared with Zoya. They would spend hours talking of the beautiful dresses they’d seen, and trying on Zoya’s mother’s hats and jewels whenever Marie came to visit. “I’m fine … except that Mama says I can’t go to town with Aunt Olga this Sunday.” It was a ritual
off with men who offered them a little money. It was what Charlie liked about her. She wasn’t much fun to have around, but at least she was steady. They gave her a raise after the first year. She couldn’t believe herself that she had stayed that long, but there was no way out, nowhere else to go, and no one who would pay her. She told Nicholas that she danced with a small ballet and she left the theater number with him in case anything happened. But she thanked God he never called her. And