Happy Birthday: A Novel

First time in paperback! In this beguiling novel, Danielle Steel tells the story of three very different people, each of whom reaches a crucial turning point on the same day—a time to blow out the candles, say goodbye to the past, and make a wish for the future. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Valerie Wyatt is the queen of gracious living. Since her long-ago divorce, she’s created a successful TV show and reached the pinnacle of her profession, with a camera-ready life in her Fifth Avenue penthouse. So why is she so depressed? Because all the hours with her personal trainer, hairdressers, and cosmetic surgeons can’t fudge the truth: Valerie is turning sixty. Valerie’s daughter, April, spends every last ounce of her energy on her popular one-of-a-kind restaurant in downtown New York. She has no love life and no prospects. Ready or not, though, April’s life is about to change, in a tumultuous transformation that begins the morning it hits her: She’s thirty. And what does she have to show for it? Jack Adams is the most charismatic sports analyst on TV. Twelve years after retiring from the NFL, he still has his pick of the most desirable twentysomething women. But Jack wakes up on his fiftieth birthday, his back thrown out of whack, feeling every year his age. In a novel brimming with warmth and insight, beginning on one birthday and ending on another, Valerie, April, and Jack discover that life itself can be a celebration—and that its greatest gifts are always a surprise. DANIELLE STEEL