📚 How I Got Hooked on Sidney Sheldon’s Books?
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| Sidney Sheldon photo from Wikipedia sourced from Harper Collins |
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The Master Story Teller Sidney Sheldon whose books took over my entire bookshelf. Before I tell you everything about my obsession with that one book which started it all, let me first give you a brief introduction about Sidney Sheldon. He was a Broadway playwright, a Hollywood TV and movie screenwriter, and a best-selling novelist. Sidney Sheldon rose to prominence during 1930s for his Broadway playwrights later he started writing novels during 1950s consistently being cited as one of the top ten best-selling fiction writers of all time. His novels have sold over 300 million copies in 51 languages.
Now let's start without further delays -:
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| Sidney Sheldon Book Collections |
It all started with the Book named Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon which I found lying amongst the old stuffs inside my father's trunk. He must have purchased it long ago since this is the oldest book in my collections. I remember that I was in my pre-teen years and I got hooked with the novel from page 1 itself. I didn't know any better back then as I know now that this is going to be the book which will mark as the beginning of my obsession with Sidney Sheldon's novels that will compel me to keep buying more & more but in a good way. But I never regretted that decision since I've always found his books super engaging and thrilling. Those Powerful Female leads, Raw & Real Emotions, meticulously laid conspiracies that seem like playing chess, those razor sharp plot twists that will blow the minds of the readers, the Naked Ambitions of the lead characters and even the detailed descriptions of the places & history that the author will lead you through. I'll take you through each one of them as I describe them in my "Must Have Sidney Sheldon's Novels" even his "Novels which have Made Me Cry".
🔍 Must-Read Sidney Sheldon Novels with Jaw-Dropping Plot Twists
"The Stanford family is one of the most respected in America – but behind the facade of fame and glamour lies a hidden web of blackmail, drugs and murder…When Harry Stanford, one of the wealthiest men in the world, mysteriously drowns while cruising on his yacht off the rugged coast of Corsica, it sets off a chain of events that reverberates around the globe. At the family gathering following the funeral in Boston, a strikingly beautiful young woman appears. She claims to be Stanford's daughter and entitled to a share of the tycoon's estate. Is she genuine, or is she an imposter?"
A Conspiracy Plot so thick that you can cut it through using Butcher knife and you'll hold your breath as someone's life is racing against time.
The Sky Is Falling sequel to The Best Laid Plan, where story now revolves around Dana Evans an investigative journalist, anchorwoman with Washington TV Networks who's Sarajevo's war coverage won people's hearts now finds herself in something sinister when Royal Family of America Winthrops Family members are all killed within a year in a series of what seems like 'accidents'. She's thrown in a cat-and-mouse chase that leads her through half a dozen countries in search of a remorseless killer.
Speak about fast-paced novels, suspense behind every page, glamour, sex, power & murder spanning across the Globe this novel is one hell of a cocktail mixture that you'll enjoy without a doubt. This novel will be right up your alley.
Spanning across LA, Europe and Asian subcontinents this novel will keep you hooked. Although, (Trigger Warning) their are lot of blood, gore & vivid descriptions of violence & crime mixed with Sex & Power. If Blood violence & vivid crime scene details aren't something you're comfortable with then don't go further because this book has lots of it. So readers at your discretion.
😭💔Sidney Sheldon Books That Made Me Cry
Here in this novel we get to find the true friendship bonding between the 3 ladies and how they cope with the stereotypes in the hospital as well as dealing with Childhood trauma. The most important thing that Sidney Sheldon addressed in this book is "Euthanasia". The most controversial topic till date in many countries.
Even during Paige's trial for allegedly murdering a patient we get to see how resolute her friend and even her new boyfriend's love & support was for her. In this novel Sidney Sheldon not just explores the tough life that most women or anyone in general face in Medical field but also addresses the most controversial issue i.e. Euthanasia also there's one more book quote I completely swear by is where Dr Kat Hunter who comes from a very abusive childhood reaches her aunt who then gives her a life advice which changes her life and so does mine, "You have two choices, You can keep running & blaming the world for all your problems or you can stand up for yourself and change your life!!!"
This life advice is something that everyone I feel should completely swear by.
I remembered that how much I was crying on that part where the protagonist son dies in a tragic accident and Jennifer Parker the heroine of this novel prepares for her son's burial. After his burial she returns to her son's bedroom and starts recalling or more like replaying the scenes like a movie when she was pregnant waiting for her son's arrival and when her son was born till he grew up started going to school and becoming a baseball player in his school till his life was cut-short tragically.
That grief which Sidney wrote when a mother loses her only son who was her only motive to live, when that anchor suddenly disappears and sinks your will to live starts disappearing, that grief was so Raw & Real I don't get it how can you be not moved by that scene.
Strangely, this book was Sidney Sheldon's most controversial novel because according to his autobiography which I'll get to in awhile, Women who read this novel had love and hate relationship with this novel because he had got lots of hate mails to the point where one woman wrote to him from East and gave him her phone number to ask why did he let the little boy die? But on the bright side women told him that they became lawyers because of Jennifer Parker, the heroine of Rage Of Angels.
Truly speaking, I wish if Sidney Sheldon or maybe Tilly Bagshawe for that matter could've wrote a sequel about Jennifer Parker since she's an example of those badass hot-shot lawyers whom we love to watch on web-series and movies.
After the Darkness Grace Brookstein who always lived a luxurious lifestyle despite the economic free fall in the US and never even looked at the price tags of things finds herself getting convicted for money laundering and other financial crimes. Her husband found dead which gets ruled out as suicide and with her friends & family betrayed her no one to turn for help she's determined person who fights the world alone, on her own uncovering the truth.
Not only the fact that the revelation was something that shook me to the core but also the fact that I was crying like anything. Because talk about betrayal and woman who rose from the same ashes the flames of which were started to burn her that woman has nothing to fear of anymore neither she'll be defeated again.
💪 Female Powerhouses in Sidney Sheldon Novels
There are bunch of books of Sidney Sheldon who are true embodiment of being Ambitious & Unstoppable. They won't let society or anyone dictate them what to do or what should be done by you they'll do what they feel is right for them as shown in the video above.
Master Of The Game - Kate Blackwell truly embodies ambition, manipulation, and control who takes her father's diamond business to new heights of giant Worldwide Conglomerate stops at nothing to achieve what she wants. But on this vociferous aim to grow her empire so huge there's always a price that someone close to her pays. Kruger Brent, a multi-billion pound company born out of naked ambition, death and betrayal.
Mistress Of The Game - The saga continues with where the tainted legacy passes down to the next generation. Lexi Templeton the great granddaughter of Kate Blackwell when ousted from Kruger Brent by deception, she starts her own company Templeton Enterprise which outshines her Kruger Brent. But just like her Great Grandmother she won't stop till she acquires Kruger Brent from those people who took it away from her.
The Best Laid Plan - Leslie Stewart goes from being a PR Executive to being a popular News Agency Owner with a sole ambition to destroy that man who betrayed her bring him down so low that he'll wish that he'd never been born.
If Tomorrow Comes - Tracy Whitney a banker who gets framed & betrayed for a crime she never committed. The book unveils a woman's journey from getting framed for crime to vengeance to rising as a global con artist. Playing a deadly game for the highest stakes that spans from New Orleans to London, Paris and Madrid.
Do you think Tracy Whitney will survive again?
Although not all his books have Strong Ambitious women there have been few books which were let down for me. I read those books in digital format.
The Name was Bloodline. Which revolves around 5 generations of Roffe Family who establishes a billion dollar Pharmaceutical company named Roffe & Sons. This company was inherited by Elizabeth Roffe after her father Sam Roffe dies in a tragic accident and while he was alive he never wrote a will declaring an heir to his massive global empire so by default everything went to Elizabeth Roffe.
Now growing up Elizabeth never received the love & affection of her parents because of two reasons. Firstly, she was born as a girl when her father was expecting a son and secondly her mother died right after she was born. Even while she was inside her mother's womb Sam Roffe was a workaholic and never paid attention to his wife at all since he was too busy being the Head Of a Massive
Pharmaceutical company Roffe & Sons while his wife was like some kind of Trophy wife or just host parties but she never got the love & affection from her husband something she never lived to see that even her daughter was receiving the same fate. While growing up Elizabeth Roffe was very withdrawn declined of parental love, had strings of nannies to look after her but she saw her father very rarely every year.
Their are instances where I felt that the moment Elizabeth makes an effort to come close to her father he immediately pushes her away. When it was maybe her fifteenth birthday her father's Trusted Business Ally Rhys Williams came to deliver her birthday gifts because of most her Birthdays she was delivered massive gifts from her father but she never had anyone to celebrate her Birthday with, so Rhys
Williams decided to change things for one day and flew with her to Paris to celebrate her birthday. From then onwards she starts fan-girling over him even dreaming about marrying him. Sam Roffe never taught her or got her involved in his business but instead treated her like a hostess who'd just organize and throw business parties, therefore no wonder after inheriting Roffe & Sons business she found herself unable to handle it. Therefore she decides to marry Rhys Williams and gives her half of the ownership of her company.
So this was something which was a let down for me, given the fact that I'm so used to Sidney Sheldon's Ambitious women Novels, but I had to be realistic because since she never learnt about running this huge business nor she studied about business so she found it unable to handle such massive corporation.
This novel does bare little resemblance with Master Of the Game series, given the fact that it starts from rag to riches to building a global conglomerate by an entire generation. But there's still difference b/w the heroines because Kate Blackwell was still headstrong and grew her business pretty well whereas Elizabeth Roffe found herself incapable to handle this huge business. Both the heroines fall in love and marry their father's trusted business ally.
Although there are few novels where Men are the main focus as well like his very first book named The Naked Face where a psychologist feels and learns that someone is out their to kill him and another one is The Doomsday Conspiracy where Robert Bellamy an American naval officer who encounters a murderous and mysterious force and actions during an investigation in a balloon accident in the Swiss Alps.
These were the true gems that I found in most of the Sidney Sheldon's novels and not all of his novels the ladies are usually being the Boss Ladies wherever they enter but their are books which are quite the opposite too.
Why Sidney Sheldon's Characters Feel So Real?
Now let me address his autobiography because it wasn't just a book for me. But it was a portal for me to enter and get a glance about the man and his life as to what all he did to become what we now know him for. Coming from grinding poverty to childhood & adulthood struggles to getting a huge break in Hollywood to the World Famous Author that we now know him he had surely come a long way. Infact he started his autobiography with something that was a page-turner for his own life too something that actually sown the seed for what he's today, trust me it was truly heart wrenching thing to read.
37 Lesser-Known Facts About Sidney Sheldon (From His Autobiography)
I got to learn so much through that book about him which I never found in any other places. Like for e.g. :
- Sidney Sheldon's real name was Sidney Schechtel. While studying in Northwestern University located in Evanstone he decided to participate in Debate Team, even though he was a Freshman and they weren't allowed to participate yet they made an exception and decided to accept him. But there was one problem, on notice board they misspelled his name from Schechtel to Shekter. So he decided to change his name while again enrolling for a show business contest where he gave his name as Sidney Sheldon. (the name we know today)
- When Sidney was 10 years old he participated in a poetry contest in Wee Wisdom (a children's magazine). He wrote a poet and asked his father to send it to the magazine, but his father thought he'll lose the contest therefore he put his son's poem under Sidney Sheldon's uncle Al Marcus's name. Two weeks later his uncle received a $5 check from Wee Wisdom.
- At 12, in seventh grade at Marshall Field Grammer School in Chicago Sidney wrote a play about Investigating a Murder. His teacher loved it so much that she decided to stage it in the school auditorium. He himself casted the characters and did the rehearsals when the performance day came, Sidney Sheldon was playing the role of a detective who's investigating the murder and while he was waiting for his cue where a boy was supposed to say 'The inspector should be here soon' but that boy messed up his dialogue by changing 'soon' to 'any minute'. When that boy realized his mistake he tried to change that 'minute' to 'soon' which ended up sounding 'minsoon'. Hearing that Sidney Sheldon burst into laughter. On-stage children were waiting for him in make an entrance but he just kept laughing loudly. Eventually people started leaving the auditorium. The happy day quickly became humiliating day for him.
- At 13, while in gym class Sidney was told that he had Slip Discs problem, one of the discs torn loose and pressed against spinal cord. He was asked to get bed rest for 2 to 3 days with hot packs to the disc to slip back into place. This affected him for the rest of his life until after he got married to Jorja Curtright and they were in Munich in a hotel, Sidney Sheldon disc slipped again and his friend Ladislaus Bush-Fekete brought a physiotherapist named Paul Horn who assured him that he can cure him. It took three weeks to cure him which consisted of laying on a table with hot lamp warming his back then laying on a hammock like device to relax his back muscles.
- By February 1935, Sidney Sheldon dropped out of Northwestern University to help his family sustain financially, since that was the year of Great Depression so jobs were scarce and his family were far behind rent and money was short, despite him and his family members working full-time in multiple jobs.
- At the age of 17, Sidney's father Otto Schechtel/Sheldon got convicted for 3 years imprisonment to Lafayette State Prison because of some involvement with wrong people. But he was granted release a year later because his father despite not knowing swimming saved a child from drowning in a huge reservoir that provides water to the prisoner's in State Prison. Two things turned out great, firstly, that child was Warden's son and secondly, after that news broke out overnight his Father became a celebrated hero on newspapers & radio. The warden & governor decided to release him because his offense weren't serious. (somewhere I believe that this is where Sidney Sheldon got the inspiration to write "If Tomorrow Comes" where the heroine gets prison sentence for something she never did after sometime she gets released, the reason was same as it was for Sidney's father Otto Schechtel)
- In the year, 1936 Sidney Sheldon composed a song named 'My Silent Self' on his little spinet piano which he showed to Phil Levant in Bismarck Hotel. Even though his song was played in huge ballroom and orchestra was broadcasting them nationwide even Horace Heidt played Sidney's song in his weekly show named 'Horace Heidt and his Alemite Brigadiers' but it was never published.
- Sidney Sheldon's first job in Hollywood was as a reader at Selznick International Studios where he was asked to synopsize a 400 page novel into 30 pages with a 2 page summary and 1 paragraph comment. Even though he wasn't hired again by them but he then started doing synopses in California for Twentieth Century-Fox, Paramount & Universal Studios.
- On Dec'12, 1938, he was hired as a staff reader by Universal Studios which had paid him $17/week. However, a month later the founder of Universal Studios sold his studio and everyone along with him got fired from their jobs.
- He again got a job of a staff reader in Twentieth Century for $23/week.
- A year after the Pearl Harbor incident on Oct'26, 1942 Sidney Sheldon applied for Army Air Corps to serve in the WWII. He got accepted for War Training Service instead of Combat flying and was enlisted in Richfield Utah where he learnt to fly combat planes. However, the War took offensive turn so the Air Force needed Fighter Pilots therefore the entire War Training Service got disbanded.
- After the entire War Training Service volunteers were disbanded they were still given disbanded either to report to an infantry unit as private in the Army or turn their name back to their Draft Board. Sidney Sheldon chose to the Draft Board option thinking that they might take time to go process his papers so he might have a month to finish 3 Broadway shows that he was writing by collaborating with others. Therefore he worked feverishly for 3 consecutive days, but on fourth day he was called by the Draft board where he appeared for physical examination but this time the doctor going over his medical reports dismissed him because of his herniated disc problem.
- After getting disband from Air Force & Private Army, the Broadway shows for which he had been collaborating with few writers they all were released with favorable reviews. The Merry Widow on August 4th,1943, Jackpot on January 13th,1944.
- Sidney Sheldon by 27, had co-written 4 Broadway shows The Merry Widow, Jackpot, Dream with Music and Alice in Arms (earlier known as Star in the Window). 2 were hit and 2 were flop, 3 days later sitting in his Hotel he wrote a thirty-page story named "Suddenly It's Spring" for Hollywood. He got 2 attractive offers from top producers of Hollywood, namely Walter Wanger for $40,000 USD and David Selznick for $35,000 USD. (The same producer for whom he had once done synopses of 400 page novel)
- David Selznick changed the name of Sidney Sheldon's story from Suddenly It's Spring to The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer which was released in the largest movie theater in the world Radio City Music Hall and it earned Sidney Sheldon an Oscar Award on February of 1948.
- After winning Oscar, Sidney Sheldon started feeling depressed & suicidal therefore he went to a psychiatrist named Dr. Judd Marmer where he learnt that he's suffering from Manic Depression which was incurable back in 1950s.
- With MGM Sidney Sheldon did another hit movie named "Easter Parade" starring Fred Astaire & Judy Garland which won him and Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett WGA Screen Award for Best Written American Musical of 1948.
- In 1950, Annie Get Your Gun movie was released and received critical acclaim earning Sidney Sheldon Writers Guild of America Screen Award for doing the Screenplay.
- In 1950, Variety Magazine published list of highest-grossing films of all time, three of which were written by Sidney Sheldon. Namely, Bachelor's and the Bobby-Soxer, Easter Parade and Annie Get Your Gun.
- Sidney Sheldon was once introduced to Fernando Lamas whom he found very Charming & Intelligent speaking with South American Accent. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where the host was making fun of his accent Fernando responded by saying "When someone has an accent, it means he knows one more language than you do". This line was also used in Sidney Sheldon's novel "Windmill Of God".
- In 1952, Sidney Sheldon was chosen to Screenplay Just This Once. After finishing the script he showed the script to Cary Grant which he turned down. Instead of Cary Grant Peter Lawford was cast. One Year later, Cary Grant called Sidney Sheldon to tell him that he regretted refusing his script, this movie remained Sidney's favorite movie.
- At age 34, Sidney Sheldon was made a Producer in MGM studios.
- Sidney Sheldon tried to persuade Jorja Curtright when he met her for the first time to have dinner with her. But she refused multiple times, until he invited her for a dinner party in his house. After the dinner party when he asked her out for dinner which she agreed to. In the dinner date, she revealed that the reason she didn't want to accompany him is because Sidney Sheldon had a reputation of dating too many women so he had no intention to be just another one on his list. But after that they started seeing each other everyday and 3 months later they got married in Vegas.
- In the late spring of 1952, Sidney Sheldon was going to produce Dream Wife written by Alfred Levitt. After the screenplay was done Sidney Sheldon wanted to cast Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr. Cary Grant after receiving the script loved it and gave a list of directors with whom he wanted to work with. However, all the directors on Cary's list were busy. Therefore, Cary Grant chose Sidney Sheldon to direct the movie "Dream Wife". This was Sidney Sheldon's first movie as a Director and it was shown in Radio City Music Hall and received nomination for Exhibitors Laurel Award even though the film received bad reviews domestically.
- Even though Sidney Sheldon delivered hits in Paramount with movies like "You're Never Too Young", "Anything Goes" & "Pardners" but after a flop film named "The Buster Keaton Story" Paramount refused to renew his contract.
- With all the bills & debts pilling up Sidney Sheldon thought of going for Television, therefore he wrote Adventures of a Model, a romantic comedy and showed it to Desi Arnaz who was a producer and starred in I Love Lucy. Desi Arnaz was impressed in the first meeting itself and wanted to produce it, but despite getting time slot to air it Adventure of a Model was never aired. Because Danny Thomas who owned The Dick Van Dyke Show pressured CBS to give his show another year and CBS agreed.
- Sidney Sheldon & Jorja Curtright were going to have another daughter. But she was born with a defect named Spina Bifida where the Spinal Cord is protruding through the back. Dr Blake Watson called medical experts who dealt with Spina Bifida to examine their baby. They later concluded that she can survive but she'll have lots of complications since this Spina Bifida was permanently disabling. Despite being kept in a medical facility their second daughter Alexandra didn't survive.
- After the Passing of their second daughter, Sheldon's family of 3 decided to adopt a baby. They contacted their obstetrician Dr Blake Watson about adoption and she arranged it with a college going woman who was ready to put up her baby for adoption. Three weeks later they received their newborn baby girl and named her Elizabeth Aprille. Unfortunately, after the baby was one week old their Obstetrician Dr Watson informed that the biological mother has changed her mind and wants her baby back, because as per the State Law if a mother who puts her baby up for adoption can change her mind within the first six months. So Elizabeth Aprille was taken from them the very next day.
- In a TV show named I Dream Of Jeannie, there was an episode Bigger than a Bread Box and Better than a Genie Sidney Sheldon casted his own wife Jorja Curtright as a fortune teller and his mother Natalie Schechtel/Sheldon to play one of the characters in the seance scene.
- When Barbara Eden (heroine of I Dream Of Jeannie) informed Sidney Sheldon that she got pregnant then instead of replacing her he decided to raise the camera higher, shoot above her waist, cover her with more veils and use long shots. They managed to finish the series from the third week to the eighth month of her pregnancy.
- Mort Werner, Head Of NBC called Sidney Sheldon telling him to marry the lead characters of I Dream Of Jeannie (Jeannie & Tony). Which came as a shock for both Sidney Sheldon and his crew members. Up until them I Dream Of Jeannie had only completed its fourth year, ready to go into its fifth, but they had not received their official pick-up for the fifth year. But by the end of the fifth year, the show got cancelled.
- While Sidney Sheldon was producing I Dream Of Jeannie, it was during that time he was getting the idea about a psychiatrist whom someone was trying to murder. But he had no enemies as far he knew. But if he were a good psychiatrist, he would have to figure out who was trying to kill him and why? This Idea materialized into his debut novel The Naked Face which was published in 1970 by William Morrow and paid Sidney $1000 advanced. Few weeks after publication, William Morrow delivered Sidney this good news that they'd sold 17,000 copies of the novel and New York Times newspaper gave the book best reviews and Sidney Sheldon received Nomination for Edgar Allan Poe Award by the end of the year.
- After The Naked Face, Sidney Sheldon decided to write another novel because it gave him lot of creative freedom as a novelist. Therefore, he decided to turn a screenplay named Orchids for Virginia into an elaborately textured novel named "The Other Side Of Midnight". This screenplay was something that Dore Schary refused to buy at RKO. The book became an international runaway bestseller and stayed on New York Times Bestseller List for fifty-two weeks.
- In 1997, the Guiness Book of World Records listed Sidney Sheldon as the Most Translated Author in the world. Since his novels were being sold in over 180 countries and translated in to 51 languages.
- While doing his research for Master Of the Game in South Africa, Sidney Sheldon got in touch with DeBeers and asked for the permission to explore diamond mine. An executive showed him and told him about a diamond mine where diamonds are lying on the surface, in full view protected by the ocean on one side and patrolled gate on the other side. The author felt challenged and he figured out a way for one of his characters to get inside and steal the diamonds.
- While researching for If Tomorrow Comes, Sidney Sheldon checked on the security of the Prado Museum in Madrid where he was told that the security was impregnable, but one of his character (i.e. con artist Tracy Whitney) figures out a way to steal a valuable painting from there.
- While researching for Windmills Of the Gods, Sidney Sheldon went to Romania where he could feel the paranoid feeling in the city itself. Upon interviewing the American Ambassador he found out not only his house, but even the author's hotel room and the nightclub that he visited are bugged.
📌 Final Thoughts + Why Sidney Sheldon Still Matters Today
From courtroom dramas and globe-spanning conspiracies to iconic women who rise from ashes, Sidney Sheldon’s stories aren’t just thrillers—they’re emotional rollercoasters rooted in ambition, betrayal, and unbreakable spirit. Whether it's Tracy Whitney pulling off an impossible con or Dana Evans chasing the truth across continents, his books stay with you long after the final page.
As someone who stumbled upon Tell Me Your Dreams in an old crammed trunk and ended up collecting everything from Master of the Game to The Other Side of Me, I can confidently say—Sidney Sheldon will never go out of style.
If you’re a fan of crime thrillers, psychological plots, or unforgettable heroines, these books deserve a spot on your shelf. And if you’ve already read them—tell me which book shook you the most!
👉 Drop your favorite Sidney Sheldon novel in the comments.
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