Danielle Schuelein-Steel was born in New York City in 1947, and spent much of her childhood in France. Danielle started writing stories as a child, and by her late teens had begun writing poetry. From an early age she was included in her parents’ dinner parties, giving her an opportunity to observe the habits and lives of the wealthy and famous.
Based in California for most of her career, and best known for her romance novels, she is the best selling author alive with over 800 million copies sold. Determined to spend as much time as possible with her own children, she often wrote at night, making do with only four hours of sleep.
A prolific author, she often releases several books per year. Each book takes 2½ years to complete, so she has developed an ability to juggle up to five projects at once. All of her novels have been written on 1946 Olympia standard typewriters – one at her home in Paris and another at her home in San Francisco which she bought second hand for $20 while working on her first book.
She has been married and divorced 5 times and has 9 children. Despite her public image and varied pursuits, she is known to be shy and rarely grants interviews or makes public appearances.
Danielle Steel has written 165 books, including 141 novels. Her books have been translated into 43 languages. Since her first book was published, every one of her novels has hit bestseller lists in paperback, and each one released in hardback has also been a hardback bestseller.
