Every woman makes choices. And no one has made more difficult choices than Olivia Grayson. The enormously successful businesswoman missed out on much of her children’s lives while she built her legendary home-furnishings empire. In Danielle Steel’s character-rich new novel, Olivia faces the past, tries to balance the present, and makes amends where due, while still running her vastly successful business. As a way of making up to them for time lost, Olivia spends months every year planning a lavish holiday that everyone in her family will enjoy. This summer she has arranged a dream trip in the Mediterranean on a luxurious yacht, which she hopes will be the most memorable vacation of all. Her lavish gesture every year expresses her love for them, and regret at all the important times she missed during her children’s younger years. Her younger daughter, Cassie, a hip London music producer, refuses the invitation altogether, as she does every year. Her older daughter, Liz, lives in her mother’s shadow, with a terror of failure as she tries to recapture her dream of being a writer. And her sons, John and Phillip, work for Olivia, for better or worse, with wives who wish they didn’t. In the splendor of the Riviera, this should be a summer to remember, with Olivia’s children, grandchildren, and daughters-in-law on board. But as with any family gathering, there are always surprises, and no matter how glamorous the setting things don’t always turn out as ones hopes.

本書為丹妮爾．斯蒂 (Danielle Steel) 的最新力作，角色豐富且刻畫鮮明。每位女人都需面臨抉擇，但奧莉維亞‧格雷森的抉擇顯然比其他人還困難得多。奧莉維亞是位事業有成的女強人，她過去一向忙著經營家具大事業，犧牲了大部分和孩子共處的時光。如今，她反省自己過去的作為，試圖在家庭和事業取得平衡的情況下，彌補自己有失母職的地方，因此，她每年花數月規劃豪華旅遊，希望家中每個人玩得盡興。今年夏天，她安排全家搭頂級遊艇至地中海度假，希望這趟夢幻之旅能成為全家最難忘的回憶。她每年下重本規劃旅遊，無非就是為了表現對孩子的愛和缺席孩子重要成長時刻的懊悔。小女兒凱西是位倫敦知名的作曲家，一如往年拒絕參加這回的全家旅遊；大女兒麗茲，看著媽媽事業如此成功，擔心她的作家夢又會失敗；兩個兒子約翰和菲利普在她手下工作，這有好也有壞，不過兩人的妻子都希望丈夫能另尋他路。依著蔚藍海岸的美麗風光，奧莉維亞帶著孩子、孫子和媳婦齊聚船上，這趟夏日之旅程本應歡樂難忘。然而，所有家庭聚會總會發生意想不到的轉折，不論事前安排地多麼妥當，事情發展都可能出人意料。