It’s rare to find a reader who hasn’t yet encountered the writing of Danielle Steel — her reputation precedes her with nearly 200 books published, and millions of copies sold! Danielle Steel published her first novel in 1973, and she’s been producing brilliant literary works ever since. With such an impressive number of books written, it can be difficult to know where to start, which is why we’ve compiled a list of all Danielle Steel books ranked for your reading pleasure. You can start with the best of the best, and experience for yourself the heartwarming stories that have made Steel’s writing so infamous.
Not sure if Danielle Steel will be up your alley? Rest assured that Steel has successfully dabbled across several genres, ensuring that she has written something for everyone. From romance and historical fiction to mystery and women’s sagas, one thing that all of Danielle Steel’s writing has in common is her masterful characterization. She writes raw and authentic characters who you’ll see yourself in; a mirror into someone else’s world of trials and triumphs. You’ll be rooting for each love story to reach its happy conclusion and working to decipher every mishap and mystery.
With so many books to read, why don’t you dive into today — and use our exhaustive ranking to pick the perfect place to start. No matter which novel you choose, you won’t be disappointed. Happy reading!
All Danielle Steel Books Ranked:
The Gift (1994)
The Gift is one of Danielle Steel’s earlier writings, but it remains a fan-favorite to this day, earning it a top spot in our list of Danielle Steel books ranked.
Set in a small midwestern town in the 1950s, The Gift tells the story of a brave young woman who steps off a bus and into a new life. The woman is simply passing through — but she finds love in this town and alters the lives of its residents forever, no matter how brief her visit.
The second best Danielle Steel novel is Safe Harbour, a powerful survival story that’s sure to keep you hooked.
Eleven-year-old Pip and her grief-stricken mother Ophelie walk across the San Francisco coastline, unaware that their lives are about to be transformed. Pip meets a kind man who teaches her to draw — Matt Bowles — and Matt touches Pip and her mother with his kind spirit until his own past threatens to pull him under.
Danielle Steel’s Kaleidoscope is a heartfelt saga with a touching love story at its heart, earning it the third spot in our comprehensive ranking.
Three children born to a beautiful Frenchwoman and an American actor are orphaned and torn apart — two of them never even knowing that their siblings existed. Everything changes when private investigator John Chapman is asked to find the sisters and bring them together for the revelation of one final, fateful secret.
Danielle Steel’s All That Glitters is a poignant tale of one woman’s love, life, and resilience.
Coco Martin grew up with everything she ever wanted: doting parents who taught her work ethic and courage, and the financial security to make all her dreams come true. Tragedy strikes when Coco learns that her parents have been killed while vacationing in France, and she now has to make her way in the world — with no one to guide her except herself.
The fifth book in our ranking is Zoya, one of Danielle Steel’s strongest forays into the historical fiction genre.
Meet Zoya: a spirited and brave young woman who flees the Russian Revolution and builds a life for herself in Paris, and later in New York. But Zoya’s rest is all too fleeting as the Great Depression settles over America, and her spirit of resilience is tested once more.
You can buy Zoya here, and see for yourself the strength and magic of this brilliantly spun tale.
Sisters (2007)
Danielle Steel’s Sisters is a tightly wound women’s saga that’s as feel-good as it is fun.
The distinctly separate lives of four sisters — Candy, Tammy, Sabrina, and Annie — are suddenly intertwined after tragedy shakes the core of their family unit. The sisters all move in together fighting to rebuild what was broken, while simultaneously facing the reality of how different their lives truly are.
Danielle Steel’s Jewels is an immersive wartime read — complete with court intrigue and lovable characters that you won’t want to miss.
Go back in time with Sarah Whitfield, an elderly woman whose memories carry her back to where her story started: Europe in the 1930s. Sarah never expected to find love while vacationing from New York, nor did she expect to build a legacy with her husband, the Duke of Whitefield, that will be passed on for decades.
But we can’t always predict our future — just like we can’t always change our past.
You can buy Jewels here, and prepare to be swept up into a decade-spanning tale of love, life, and loss.
Message From Nam (1990)
The eighth novel in our comprehensive ranking is Danielle Steel’s Message From Nam, a historical fiction read that’s teeming with emotion and valor.
Meet Paxton Andrews: she’s an ambitious journalist who experiences the Vietnamese War firsthand. Her writing is powerful and influential, but nothing can compare to the stories of the soldiers she worked with, laughed with, and loved until the bittersweet end.
If you’re looking for a gripping historical fiction read with a moving love story at its center, then Wanderlust is the book for you.
Wanderlust follows the story of Audrey Driscoll, a driven young woman with a passion for experiencing the greater world. With her trusty camera in hand, she travels from Europe to China, from America to North Africa — finding and losing her heart along the way.
Danielle Steel’s Star is a powerfully written look at life in the spotlight, earning it the tenth spot in our ranking of Danielle Steel’s books.
Crystal Wyatt grew up on a remote ranch in California, living on the outskirts until her father passed away, leaving her to fend for herself. Crystal’s dreamy singing voice transformed her into a star, but she quickly learns that the music industry is a cruel and violent place to be a woman.
Prodigal Son by Danielle Steel is a twisting-and-turning read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the conclusion.
Peter McDowell and Michael McDowell have so much in common — they’re fraternal twins with a shared past, but it’s a past that tore them apart. When the twins reunite after years apart, their connection will bring long-lost secrets to light, and reveal once and for all which twin is good and which is evil.
You can buy Prodigal Son here, and make sure to clear your schedule before you start reading — you won’t be able to put this one down.
The Promise (1978)
Danielle Steel’s The Promise is a timeless romance read that will stick with you long after you’ve turned the final page.
Michael Hillyard and Nancy McAllister are two young lovers who are determined to get married — despite the callous disapproval of Michael’s wealthy mother. A cruel and terrifying scheme tears Michael and Nancy apart, and they pursue new lives in different parts of the world.
But their love is stronger than the forces that ripped them apart — and they vow to find a way back to one another, no matter how long it takes.
The thirteenth book in our ranking is Danielle Steel’s Full Circle, an unforgettable tale of love and sacrifice in the 1960s.
Full Circle tells the story of Tana Roberts, a bright young woman who comes of age in the 1960s — she moves from New York to the South, seeking true love and a lasting career at any cost.
You’re in for an emotionally satisfying read with Danielle Steel’s Fine Things, a character-driven story that you won’t want to miss.
Bernie Fine is a successful businessman with a career that’s skyrocketing, but there’s something his life is missing. He finds that thing when he meets Liz O’Reilly and her five-year-old daughter, but his love of a lifetime is cut painfully short when he loses Liz to cancer.
Now alone with two children, Bernie must learn to overcome the loss of a lifetime — and discover what else in his life is worth living for.
At the young age of eighteen, Amadea was forced into hiding — escaping Hitler’s reign of terror and plunging deep into the heart of the French Resistance. Here she meets Rupert Montgomery, a British secret agent who gives her hope for a future amidst despair and desolation.
You can buy Echoes here, and experience for yourself the engaging storytelling of this must-read.
Summer’s End (1979)
The sixteenth book in our comprehensive ranking is Summer’s End, a tale of resilience that’s Danielle Steel’s writing at its finest.
Deanna was married at eighteen to a French attorney named Marc-Edouard Duras — she’s thirty-seven now and realizes to her dismay that she’s trapped. Her marriage is failing and her life was over before it began: but is it too late to turn back from all she’s ever known?
Danielle Steel’s Silent Honor is an emotional, harrowing read that looks back in time at one of the most painful events in America’s history.
Hiroko was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan before she boarded a California-bound ship at the age of eighteen to pursue an education. While in California, Pearl Harbor is bombed by the Japanese — and a presidential order permitting the removal of the Japanese from American communities sends Hiroko’s future into bitter turmoil.
You can buy Silent Honor here, and prepare for a riveting historical read that’s as touching as it is thought-provoking.
Blue (2016)
Expect the unexpected when you delve into Danielle Steel’s Blue, one of her more modern novels that earned the eighteenth spot in our ranking.
Ginny Carter’s life of success and happiness was shattered by a fateful accident — and on the anniversary of the painful tragedy, she meets someone who transforms her life forever. Blue Williams is thirteen years old and lives on the streets: Ginny offers him respect and friendship, but he’s hiding a secret that threatens to wreck Ginny’s life all over again.
Danielle Steel’s Family Album is a gripping escapist read that’s sure to entertain Steel fans new and old.
Family Album spans decades of life and love surrounding Faye Price: a sparkling actress and mother of five, who eventually becomes one of Hollywood’s first woman directors. Even after Faye passes her legacy lives on through her children — a testament to the magic of family.
Dive into some of Danielle Steel’s most recent writing with High Stakes, the twentieth-best book in our ranking and one that you won’t want to pass up.
High Stakes follows the personal and professional lives of five women who work for an esteemed literary agency. When the lines between the personal and the professional are blurred, it’s up to each woman to decide how far they’re willing to go for their future.
Danielle Steel’s Malice is a heart-wrenching story that takes on serious subject matters with respect and sensitivity.
Grace Adams has spent her teenage years being victimized at the hands of her father, yet nobody ever believed her or took her seriously. After years imprisoned for a crime she wasn’t responsible for, Grace has finally found love and protection, but a tabloid threatens to ruin the future she just began believing in.
Danielle Steel’s Spy is an expertly plotted historical fiction that’s teeming with romance and page-turning intrigue.
Nobody can know about Alexandra Wickham’s employment as a double agent in the second world war — not her family, not her lover, and certainly not the enemy. But all secrets eventually come to the light, and nothing stays hidden forever.
Danielle Steel’s A Perfect Stranger is a fascinating read that’s equal parts mystery and romance.
Raphaella has spent her whole life hidden away from the world: she’s the only daughter of a banking dynasty and is married to a much older man. Alexander Hale is a young lawyer who spotted her alone one evening, but she ran away from him.
Who would’ve guessed that fate would bring the pair together again?
Danielle Steel marvels her readers once again with The Ring, a beautifully written historical fiction set amid war-torn Germany.
The love affair between a German socialite and a Jewish author leads a family into ruin as Hitler’s reign of terror falls over Germany. Ariana, the daughter of the fateful pair, is imprisoned and abused with nothing but memories of her heritage to keep her hope alive.
If you’re looking for an inspirational tale of one woman’s path to stardom, then Danielle Steel’s The High Notes is the book for you.
Meet Iris Cooper: she’s been stunning crowds with her powerful voice since she was only twelve, but hardship has met her every step of the way. From her father misusing her money to her first real manager exploiting her talents, Iris begins to wonder if doing what she loves will ever pay off — but she’s not giving up yet.
Danielle Steel switches up her typical style in Toxic Bachelors — a can’t-miss story with male leads (opposed to her typical female-driven writing).
Charlie, Adam, and Gray are long-time best friends with one important thing in common: they’ve been bachelors for as long as they’ve all known each other. But as the trio prepares for their annual summer yacht trip, everything’s about to change: this time, none of them are single.
Dive into the twenty-seventh book in our comprehensive ranking with Danielle Steel’s The Whittiers, a heartwarming story about the meaning of family.
The Whittiers’ six adult children reunite in their childhood home — but this time without their parents. The loss of their parents hits each of them with unexpected grief, and now they have to get together to sell their childhood home — or is there another option?
Danielle Steel’s The Ranch is a poignant women’s saga that you won’t want to miss.
Three college roommates reunite after twenty transformative years apart from each other — each of them masking their reality with secrets that are far too painful to reveal. Can one summer together at a sprawling ranch in Wyoming undo the years of hurt and memories that kept these women apart?
Danielle Steel’s Beauchamp Hall is a bold and beautiful story that’s bound to delight you like no other.
Winona Farmington has watched all her dreams wither up and die: she’s stuck in a dead-end job and an unhappy relationship, consoled only by her favorite television show, Beauchamp Hall. When Winona’s boyfriend and best friend betray her, she makes an impulsive decision, flying to England to see the town where Beauchamp Hall is filmed.
But the universe might just have Winona’s back, as her impulsive decision proves to be the chance of a lifetime. The nobility who reside at Beauchamp Hall soon become Winona’s dearest friends and she takes a chance on the future she never believed was possible.
His Bright Light is different from Danielle Steel’s usual writing — it’s a nonfiction novel about her son who she lost at the age of nineteen, and it’s widely considered to be one of her strongest works.
Danielle Steel tells a deeply personal story in His Bright Light: the true story of her son Nick Traina’s life and eventual death. Nick lived with manic depression, and this up-close look at his struggles and strengths is a beautiful tribute that’s both heartbreaking and hopeful.
Danielle Steel’s Safe Harbour is her best-selling novel to date.
What kind of books does Danielle Steel write?
Danielle Steel has written across many genres throughout her writing career, although she primarily writes romance and women’s fiction.
Is there an order to read Danielle Steel’s books?
No, Danielle Steel’s books can be read in any order, since they are all standalones and not series.
How many hours a day does Danielle Steel write?
Danielle Steel stated during an interview that she has written up to 22 hours a day — although she writes fewer hours a day depending on her workload at the time.
What is the true story by Danielle Steel?
Danielle Steel has written three nonfiction novels to date, although the best known of the three is His Bright Light, the thirtieth novel in our ranking.
Where do I start with Danielle Steel?
We recommend starting with Danielle Steel’s more popular works, such as The Gift or Safe Harbour.
Layla Hughes is a professional writer who grew up on the Central Coast of California, and later studied English at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Her love for reading started when she was young, as she has been an avid reader ever since she mastered her ABC’s. She loves the classics, YA fiction, and loves keeping up with current reading and writing trends. She is currently traveling full-time in a converted camper van around the US, Mexico and Canada, enjoying living out a story of her own creation. find Layla on Instagram @laylabeth
