She meets an ambitious sculptor known as Laurent Brouilly in Europe and immediately knows that her life will never be the same again. The author also offers a glimpse of Ally’s current life, and these timelines are weaved so beautifully it all makes sense. But with her life now turned upside down, Ally decides to leave the open seas and follow the trail that her father left her, which leads her to the icy beauty of Norway . She is among the first to arrive in their family home in Atlantis, Switzerland, after their father’s passing. The Storm Sister is like a literary musical score – crashing waves, staccato heartstopping moments and a crescendo waiting in the wings.

The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley - Pan Macmillan

And then there is Pa Salt, the sisters’ enigmatic father, his character only seen through the eyes of his grieving daughters after he dies.Riley is at the peak of her writing powers in The Storm Sister, the pages packed with an exciting melee of yachting, romance and the music of Grieg, with the joy of Ally’s personal story proving as forceful and fascinating as the tempestuous family history that unfolds around her. Across continents, generations and history, The Storm Sister is a true box of delights, exploring the impact of real events on the lives of one extraordinary family, throwing up intriguing parallels between the past and the present and slowly opening a window onto Ally’s hidden past. Some say they were the Seven Mothers who seeded our earth – there is no doubt that, in their stories, they were all highly fertile!

The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley | Waterstones The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley | Waterstones

Ally learns that her heritage is connected to the story of this young singer who lived and performed her art over a century ago. But, when machinations outside of her control lead her to the London home of one of Edwardian society's most notorious players, Flora is pulled between passionate love and duty to her family. And it is there that Ally begins to discover her roots and how her story is inextricably bound to that of a young unknown singer, Anna Landvik from a small farmstead in Telemark, who in 1876 sang in the first performance of Grieg’s musical masterpiece, Peer Gynt, based on Henrik Ibsen’s play. She continued to work, producing five novels during the four years of her illness, but was unable to complete the planned final eighth novel in her Seven Sisters series before her death on 11 June 2021.

There, Ally begins to discover her roots – and how her story is inextricably bound to that of a young unknown singer, Anna Landvik, who lived there over a hundred years before, and sang in the first performance of Grieg’s iconic music set to Ibsen’s play ‘Peer Gynt’.

The Seven Sisters Series by Lucinda Riley - Goodreads

From 2000 until her death, she was married to Stephen Riley, with whom she also had two children, Leonora and Kit. Her thrilling novels bring together real life history and riveting stories packed with fascinating characters, imaginative, cleverly worked plotlines and heart-stopping emotion. But quite unexpectedly she has fallen madly and passionately in love with fellow yachtsman Theo Falys-King, the half-English, half-American celebrity skipper of the sailing world, and is preparing to compete with his crew in the Fastnet, one of the world’s most perilous offshore races. Rushing back to meet her five sisters at their family home, she discovers that her father – an elusive billionaire affectionately known to his daughters as Pa Salt – has left each of them a tantalising clue to their true heritage.She rushes to meet her five sisters at home, where she discovers that her billionaire father has left her clues to her true heritage. This is the 30th book, but considering Alex has survived "Kill Alex Cross" before, chances are he survives this one. This is an author who knows how to weave a vast tapestry of people and events, stitching together their lives through different timelines and countries, threading in high drama, tear-jerking angst and simmering passions, and tying up all loose ends with perfect precision and just a tantalising hint of ongoing mystery. And with surprises around every corner, the soaring strains of Grieg’s music still ringing in our ears and the mystery of Pa Salt’s death as yet unexplained, it’s good to know that the next sister’s story is already waiting in the wings! In May 2022, her stepdaughter Olivia Riley, who was a personal assistant and publishing executive for Lucinda Riley Ltd, was killed after being hit by a car while walking her dogs in London.