The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley @lucindariley @panmacmillan #TheSevenSisters

CeCe D’Aplièse 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 . . .

The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley is published in hardback by Pan Macmillan on 2 November 2017 and is the fourth book in the number one international bestselling Seven Sisters series. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.

I've been reading and blogging about Lucinda Riley's books ever since I started Random Things. I am a huge fan of her books and her Seven Sisters series absolutely wonderful.  I am completely in awe of her, she has produced one book per year for the past four years and each one is detailed, so well researched and totally gripping. I've been looking forward to reading CeCe's story, and I wasn't disappointed. It's fabulous, it's a huge book, just like the others, but I tore through it and really could hardly bear to put it down.

The Pearl Sister accompanied me on my recent holiday to Croatia, and was the perfect travelling companion. The flight passed in a jiffy as I was totally immersed in the story of CeCe.

CeCe D'Apliese and her sisters were all adopted as tiny babies. Their adoptive father; Pa Salt, was an extremely wealthy businessman, and they were brought up in luxury at his home in Switzerland. Pa Salt was unmarried and his housekeeper; Ma, became the mother figure in their lives.

When Pa Salt died suddenly, his daughters were all distraught, but he left them their own personal legacy. Each of them were given a set of co-ordinates which told them where they were born, and each of them had an individual letter with clues to their past.

CeCe's letter led her to Australia, a place that she'd always avoided visiting before, mainly due to her fear of bugs and insects. CeCe and her sister Star were always very close, but since Star discovered her own heritage and fell in love, CeCe has felt abandoned. Her decision to fly to Australia will change her life. Whilst there, she meets the mysterious Ace; a man who clearly has secrets, but makes her feel so very special. When Ace presents her with a book that details the life of Kitty McBride from a century ago, and is somehow connected to her, the story really begins to take off.

Once more, Lucinda Riley has written a story that both entralls and mesmerises the reader. Her incredible eye for detail and her wonderfully well researched characters are a joy to read. She has the ability to weave the modern and the historical settings together so finely, there's not a crack to be found in either the plot or the pacing.

The Pearl Sister is absolutely wonderful, I really do think that the series gets better and better with each book and my only sorrow is that I have to wait another year for the next instalment!

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, has now sold more than 10 million copies of her books worldwide in 30 languages and is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.

Lucinda wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her novel Hothouse Flowers (also called The Orchid House) was selected by the UK's Richard and Judy Book Club in 2011.
The Seven Sisters, a seven-book series, tells the story of adopted sisters and based allegorically on the mythology of the famous star constellation. Book 1, The Seven Sisters, and Book 2, The Storm Sister, have been No. 1 bestsellers in Europe. The Storm Sister has been nominated for the prestigious Premio Bancarella literary prize in Italy. 

To read about Lucinda's inspiration behind The Seven Sisters, please visit www.thesevensistersseries.com

Lucinda is also rewriting and releasing a number of books originally published when writing under her maiden name of Lucinda Edmonds, including The Olive Tree, The Italian Girl, The Angel Tree and in 2017, The Love Letter.

Lucinda lives with her husband and four children in England and West Cork, Ireland.

For more information visit www.lucindariley.co.uk#
Follow her on Twitter @lucindariley  

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