The Duchess - Danielle Steel

Orphaned. Betrayed. Determined. Angelique Latham grew up at the magnificent Belgrave Castle with her father, the Duke of Westerfield, after the death of her mother. But when he dies, her half-brothers brutally deny her very existence and send her out into the world alone. At eighteen, Angelique has a keen mind, remarkable beauty and an envelope of money her late father pressed upon her. Unable to secure employment, Angelique desperately makes her way to Paris. To survive, she will need all her resources - and one bold stroke of fortune. Angelique takes an unfamiliar and unimaginable path in setting up what becomes a highly successful business. But she lives on the edge of scandal; can she ever make a life for herself? From England to Paris and New York, Danielle Steel paints a captivating portrait of a woman of unquenchable spirit in The Duchess.