The Pearl Sister

Description

CeCe D'Apliese has never felt she fitted in anywhere. Following the death of her father, the elusive billionaire Pa Salt - so-called by the six daughters he adopted from around the globe and named after the Seven Sisters star cluster - she finds herself at breaking point. Dropping out of art college, CeCe watches as Star, her beloved sister, distances herself to follow her new love, leaving her completely alone. In desperation, she decides to flee England and discover her past; the only clues she has are a black-and-white photograph and the name of a woman pioneer who lived in Australia over one hundred years ago. En-route to Sydney, CeCe heads to the one place she has ever felt close to being herself: the stunning beaches of Krabi, Thailand. There amongst the backpackers, she meets the mysterious Ace, a man as lonely as she is and whom she subsequently realizes, has a secret to hide... A hundred years earlier, Kitty McBride, daughter of an Edinburgh clergyman, is given the opportunity to travel to Australia as the companion of the wealthy Mrs McCrombie. In Adelaide, her fate becomes entwined with Mrs McCrombie's family, including the identical, yet very different, twin brothers: impetuous Drummond, and ambitious Andrew, the heir to a pearling fortune. When CeCe finally reaches the searing heat and dusty plains of the Red Centre of Australia, she begins the search for her past. As something deep within her responds to the energy of the area and the ancient culture of the Aboriginal people, her creativity reawakens once more. With help from those she meets on her journey, CeCe begins to believe that this wild, vast continent could offer her something she never thought possible: a sense of belonging, and a home...

Lucinda Riley was born in 1965 in Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and continue to strike an emotional chord with all cultures around the world. The Seven Sisters series specifically has become a global phenomenon, creating its own genre, and there are plans to create a seven-season TV series. Her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Italian Bancarella prize, The Lovely Books award in Germany, and the Romantic Novel of the Year award. In 2020 she received the Dutch Platinum award for sales over 300,000 copies for a single novel in one year - an award last won by J K Rowling for Harry Potter. In collaboration with her son Harry Whittaker, she also devised a series of books for children called The Guardian Angels series, based on stories told to her children whenever they were facing a challenging situation. Harry then wrote the books, and they are now being published internationally. Though she brought up her four children mostly in Norfolk in England, in 2015 she fulfilled her dream of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home, and indeed this was where her last five books were written. Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died on June 11th 2021, surrounded by her family.

Kitty's tangled history and its equally snarled connections to CeCe's origins unravel at a leisurely pace, with much lore about pearl fishing, aboriginal culture, and Australian race relations adding interest. -- Kirkus Reviews, USA Delicious reading. -- Daily Mail Lucinda paints another epic tale of love, loss and discovery. -- My Weekly This is like going on a fantastic literary holiday - a magical mystery tour of hope and dreams . . . The locations evocative, the descriptions exquisite and the story woven like ribbons through time and history. I was transported to a world of amazement as well as art. -- The Book Trail Spanning continents and decades, this is a well-researched and compelling novel on an epic scale. -- Sunday Express Every corner of the world has become a thrilling new adventure with master storyteller Lucinda Riley . . . Told through a breath-taking panorama of captivating stories, their fates and fortunes are painted on a broad canvas and all created from a vast sweep of the imagination. -- Lancashire Evening Post Riley's meticulous research and attention to detail immerse readers in historical background and bring CeCe and Kitty to life. Fans of Kristin Hannah, Kate Morton, and Riley's previous novels will adore this. -- Booklist, USA The Pearl Sister is absolutely wonderful . . . Lucinda enthralls and mesmerizes as she weaves the modern and the historical settings together so finely there's not a crack to be found in either the plot or the pacing. -- Random Things Through My Letterbox