The Seven Sisters is the first book in the book series named after the Seven Sisters star cluster, also known as the Pleiades. And yes, the author is inspired by Greek Mythology but it is not a retelling. If you are looking for a series that will take you from country to country, you have found it. I think we all need light books to ease the isolation and the least we can do is armchair travel!
Irish writer Lucinda Riley tells the story of sisters that are adopted from different parts of the world. The names of the sisters come from the names of stars in the cluster. And these are Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygete, Celaeno, and Alcyone.
The girls meet in Geneva upon the unexpected death of their father, Pa Salt. To their surprise, there won’t be a ceremony. All they have now are letters and clues left by their father. This first book tells the story of Maia, the eldest of the sisters. When she discovers her birthplace, Maia sets out to find her real family. She discovers not only her family but also the history of an entire city. While becoming a partner to a love story that transcends continents, she realises that her life is also changing.
Although it did not satisfy me literally, I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the places the story dragged me and liked the people it introduced me to. Frankly, I neglected its shortcomings because The Seven Sisters successfully pulled me out of real life. I am sure that I will read the other books in the series with great pleasure as well. If you intend to use books to escape, you may like this. Enjoy!
Other books in the series
The Seven Sisters
The Seven Sisters: Maia D’Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.
Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.
In this sweeping, epic tale of love and loss—the first in a unique, spellbinding series of seven novels, The Seven Sisters—Lucinda Riley showcases her storytelling talent like never before.
Lucinda Riley
Lucinda Riley is an Irish author of popular historical fiction and a former actress. She spent the first few years of her life in the village of Drumbeg near Belfast before moving to England. At age 14 she moved to London to a specialist drama and ballet school. The Seven Sisters series is her most popular books.
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