In this gripping historical panorama of three generations of European women, Danielle Steel departs from her usual subject matter without betraying her gift for close portraiture. Echoes traces the Wittgenstein family as they cope with two world wars; romance and personal tragedy; religious and social pressure; and the rise of Nazism. Beata Wittgenstein is a youthful Jewish beauty whose love for a French army officer compels her to defy her parents and abandon her faith. She raises her daughter, Amadea, as a Catholic; when she is a teenager, Amadea takes vows to become a Carmelite nun. But, during the years of the Third Reich, not even a convent can offer her sanctuary. As family and friends are swept away without trace, Amadea retreats into hiding, eventually joining the French Resistance.