Another enjoyable journey to find the past of one of th seven sisters. Tale is well woven and the intricacies of relationships and how things come to be connected is fascinating. ( )

The Seven Sisters Book 4

Lucinda Riley has been one of my favourite authors since I came across the first book in this series The Seven Sisters and I have gone on since to read all of her books to date and although The Seven Sisters is still my favourite so far, none of her books have been a disappointment which is a huge credit to her writing.

I had this book pre ordered for months and couldn’t wait for publication day which seemed to take forever to come around! I also for the first time in several months took time off from my pile of TBR books that I’m working my way through in exchange for reviews to indulge myself with this book and it was well worth it! (The only other book to deviate me from my pile has been Stephen King’s Sleeping Beauties)

This is CeCe’s story. Up until now CeCe was my least favourite sister and no matter how much I was anticipating this book I wasn’t expecting to become as invested in the story as much as I had been with the others, especially Ally D’Aplièse’s story in book 2, but I was rooting for CeCe just as much about half way in! As she starts to come out of her shell and gain confidence in herself her true character starts to shine.

Having never felt she fitted in anywhere and watching her closest sister Star follow the clues left by their deceased father Pa Salt and discover her identity and new-found love CeCe decides to try to discover her own past with the hope of finding her own place that she belongs.

The story is told from two different view points as well as two different times, CeCe in 2008 and Kitty McBride a hundred years earlier in 1906. And despite the two significantly different periods the story flows effortlessly.

CeCe begins her travels in Krabi, Thailand where she meets Ace, who like herself is lonely and out-of-place. He helps her begin her journey of discovery from the clues left for her by Pa Salt but it soon becomes apparent that Ace has a secret he is hiding.

From Thailand she follows the clues to Sydney in Australia and meets some amazing characters along the way.

1906 Kitty McBride is the daughter of an Edinburgh clergyman that finds herself in Australia as the companion of the wealthy Mrs McCrombie. And it is in this new Land of Opportunity that she meets twin brothers, Drummond and Andrew, who is the heir to a pearling company. Andrew and Kitty are soon wed and she finds herself living in the isolated town of Broome and her story is also one of self-discovery as well as the trials hardships of living in the Australian outback in a pioneering age.

I loved CeCe but I think I loved Kitty more, she is an inspiration to women of all ages.

As the two women’s stories become entwined the conncection becomes apparent in a brilliant way and although the series still leaves some unanswered questions these women stories are left with a happy ending.

Now comes the extremely long wait for Tiggy’s story and just to warn you, this book leaves her in a place that makes the wait for us even longer!!!

If you havent read the other three books in the series this book will still be good as a stand alone but I can’t recommend reading the others high enough. All four are brilliant in their own rights. ( )

Lucinda Riley has been one of my favourite authors since I came across the first book in this series The Seven Sisters and I have gone on since to read all of her books to date and although The Seven Sisters is still my favourite so far, none of her books have been a disappointment which is a huge credit to her writing.

I had this book pre ordered for months and couldn’t wait for publication day which seemed to take forever to come around! I also for the first time in several months took time off from my pile of TBR books that I’m working my way through in exchange for reviews to indulge myself with this book and it was well worth it! (The only other book to deviate me from my pile has been Stephen King’s Sleeping Beauties)

This is CeCe’s story. Up until now CeCe was my least favourite sister and no matter how much I was anticipating this book I wasn’t expecting to become as invested in the story as much as I had been with the others, especially Ally D’Aplièse’s story in book 2, but I was rooting for CeCe just as much about half way in! As she starts to come out of her shell and gain confidence in herself her true character starts to shine.

Having never felt she fitted in anywhere and watching her closest sister Star follow the clues left by their deceased father Pa Salt and discover her identity and new-found love CeCe decides to try to discover her own past with the hope of finding her own place that she belongs.

The story is told from two different view points as well as two different times, CeCe in 2008 and Kitty McBride a hundred years earlier in 1906. And despite the two significantly different periods the story flows effortlessly.

CeCe begins her travels in Krabi, Thailand where she meets Ace, who like herself is lonely and out-of-place. He helps her begin her journey of discovery from the clues left for her by Pa Salt but it soon becomes apparent that Ace has a secret he is hiding.

From Thailand she follows the clues to Sydney in Australia and meets some amazing characters along the way.

1906 Kitty McBride is the daughter of an Edinburgh clergyman that finds herself in Australia as the companion of the wealthy Mrs McCrombie. And it is in this new Land of Opportunity that she meets twin brothers, Drummond and Andrew, who is the heir to a pearling company. Andrew and Kitty are soon wed and she finds herself living in the isolated town of Broome and her story is also one of self-discovery as well as the trials hardships of living in the Australian outback in a pioneering age.

I loved CeCe but I think I loved Kitty more, she is an inspiration to women of all ages.

As the two women’s stories become entwined the conncection becomes apparent in a brilliant way and although the series still leaves some unanswered questions these women stories are left with a happy ending.

Now comes the extremely long wait for Tiggy’s story and just to warn you, this book leaves her in a place that makes the wait for us even longer!!!

If you havent read the other three books in the series this book will still be good as a stand alone but I can’t recommend reading the others high enough. All four are brilliant in their own rights. ( )

Quarto libro della serie, bellissimo e imperdibile non meno dei precedenti, dove protagonista è Cece che per ritrovare sé stessa e conoscere quali sono le sue origini dovrà arrivare sino in Australia per scoprire qualcosa che di certo non avrebbe mai immaginato.
Avvincente, appassionante e anche molto emozionante, storie nelle storie che incantano e coinvolgono.
Da non perdere. ( )

This is the fourth book in The Seven Sisters series to which I am listening on my morning walks.

Six girls were adopted by Pa Salt, an ultra-wealthy man. After he dies, each daughter is given a letter and a clue to her true heritage. Each daughter’s journey is the subject of a novel. The Pearl Sister is the story of the fourth daughter, CeCe.

CeCe needs to go to Australia to find her family, but she stops in Thailand for an extended stay where a mysterious man named Ace befriends her. When she resumes her travels and continues to Australia, she learns about Kitty McBride and the Mercer family whose enterprises included pearling in Western Australia. She also discovers a possible connection to the Aboriginals; her exposure to their culture reawakens her artistic creativity.

The structure is the same as that of the previous books. There’s the present where CeCe sets out to find her origins which are somehow connected to Kitty Mercer. The narrative in the past focuses on Kitty McBride who leaves Scotland, marries into the Mercer family, and moves to Broome with her husband who is in charge of the family’s pearling interests. Kitty encounters indigenous peoples and hates how they are regarded and treated by the European colonists. As with the other books, there’s more focus on distant ancestors like a great-great-grandmother than on a mother. Wouldn’t CeCe be more interested in her mother’s story? In the novel, her mother’s story is almost an afterthought.

CeCe is not my favourite sister. She comes across as whiny. She has had a privileged upbringing and has been able to travel the world. Yet she is always feeling sorry for herself and complaining how no one understands her and her art. She does seem to experience some personal growth, but I found I didn’t really care. One thing that bothered me is the portrayal of her dyslexia which seems to be equated with a lack of education: CeCe doesn’t know the word genocide and has never heard of Darwin?

As with the other books, I enjoyed the historical information I gleaned: the pearling industry in Australia, Aboriginal culture and art, and the mistreatment of the Indigenous Peoples (which has so many unfortunate parallels with Canada’s treatment of its First Nations peoples). I found myself researching the art of Albert Namatjira.

What I did not enjoy is the forbidden love stories and the love-at-first-sight tropes which appear in all the books. Coincidence is certainly overused in this novel so that it is difficult to suspend disbelief. A child is found in the Outback by a relative unaware of his existence? A pearl which is cursed keeps cropping up, even in CeCe’s timeline? And the entire section set in Thailand seems irrelevant and could be omitted.

As I’ve stated in previous reviews of this series, I will continue listening to these books on my morning walks because they provide pure escapism that allows my easily distracted mind to wander.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). ( )