His Bright Light - by Danielle Steel (Paperback)

About the Book

Danielle Steel's powerful, personal story of the 19-year-old son she lost to the masked killer called manic depression recounts the author's tender, painful memories and shares Nick's remarkable journals, bringing readers a haunting duet between a singular young man and the mother who loved him. Includes a new Afterword by the author.

Book Synopsis

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.

"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.

I want to share the story, and the pain, the courage, the love, and what I learned in living through it. I want Nick's life to be not only a tender memory for us, but a gift to others. . . . I would like to offer people hope and the realities we lived with. I want to make a difference. My hope is that someone will be able to use what we learned, and save a life with it."--Danielle Steel

From the day he was born, Nick Traina was his mother's joy. By nineteen, he was dead. This is Danielle Steel's powerful, personal story of the son she lost and the lessons she learned during his courageous battle against darkness. Sharing tender, painful memories and Nick's remarkable journals, Steel brings us a haunting duet between a singular young man and the mother who loved him--and a harrowing portrait of a masked killer called manic depression, which afflicts between two and three million Americans.

Review Quotes

"A powerful and personal story....His bright light is Danielle Steel's legacy and tribute to her son, as well as haunting depiction of manic-depression."--Saturday Evening Post

"Danielle Steel has written a spellbinding account of her son 's struggle with bipolar illness....Valuable insights....We come away with a heightened sensitivity that perhaps only a writer of this distinction could convey, of what it is like to try to cope with a child with a severe psychiatric disorder....This is a book about what we can do--as parents, as physicians, as human beings."--Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

"Reading His Bright Light moved me to tears as the memoir captures so vividly the ferocious nature of mental illness....Sharing [Nick's] story will save lives. His Bright Light will make a difference for countless others."--Laurie Flynn, Executive Director, NAMI (The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill)

"[A] searing portrayal of the loss of her 19-year-old son . . . Ms. Steel's heartfelt homage to her son may very well help others save a life."--Dallas Morning News

The Nick Traina Foundation has been established to benefit mental health, music, child-related causes, and other charitable organizations for assorted causes, and other charitable organization for assorted causes. All of the author's proceeds and agent's fees from this book will go to the foundation, which will also receive direct proceeds from the publisher for all copies sold.

About the Author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's bestselling authors, with a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Happiness, Palazzo, The Wedding Planner, Worthy Opponents, Without a Trace, The Whittiers, The High Notes, 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; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Expect a Miracle, a book of her favorite quotations for inspiration and comfort; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children's books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.