How many times have you thought, “this has got to be true—no one could make this up?” Well, in 1929, Huston Curtiss was seven years old, living with his beautiful, opinionated mother (whose image is on the cover of this book), and surrounded by their romantic, fiercely independent, and often certifiably insane relatives. Huston has never before written about that time—an era of racism and repression, a time when this country was still relatively young, an age of quirky individualism and almost frontier-style freedom that largely has ceased to exist. Fearful he would not be believed, on one hand, but desirous of the freedom to embellish, on the other, Curtiss chronicles that time inSins of the Seventh Sister, a book he characterizes as “a novel based on a true story of the gothic South.” It is his story and the story of the people of Elkins, West Virginia, a small town whose inhabitants included his mother, Billy-Pearl Curtiss, and her many sisters—all stunning blondes. Billy-Pearl would prove to be an irresistibly romantic figure in her son’s life. She was the seventh of eleven children, all girls to her father’s consternation. By the time of her arrival, her father felt he had been patient enough and insisted on calling her Billy; he taught her everything he had intended to impart to his firstborn son. She would grow up to be one of the most beautiful women in the county, but also one of the most opinionated and liberal. Her aim was so precise that she was barred from the local turkey shoot because none of the men had a chance against her. When a Klansman accused her of attempted homicide after she shot him through the shoulder to stop him from setting fire to the home of her black neighbors, she told the sheriff, “If I had meant to kill him, he’d be dead.” And with that defense, she was exonerated. Curtiss Farm was large and the house had many rooms, which Billy-Pearl got in the habit of gathering people to fill, especially the downtrodden who had nowhere to go. In May 1929, Billy-Pearl brought home a boy from the local orphanage. Stanley was sixteen, the age at which the orphanage kicked children out, and Billy-Pearl, knowing his sad history, could not allow him to end up on the streets. Stanley had witnessed his father beat his mother to death in a drunken rage and had taken a straight razor and slit his father’s throat while he slept. A country judge had the boy castrated to control his aggressive ways. Not a boy, but not yet a man, Stanley was tall, willowy, and frightened as a colt upon his arrival at Curtiss Farm—not at all the playmate for whom Huston had hoped. But quickly a friendship developed between the two that would last a lifetime—a friendship that would survive murder, suicide, madness, and Stanley’s eventual transformation into Stella, a singer who would live her adult life as a glamorous woman. Sins of the Seventh Sisteris brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, as alive with flamboyant characters and wildly uncontained emotions as any book to come out of the South.
They’ll search the world to find her. From the Sunday Times number one bestselling author Lucinda Riley, The Missing Sister is the seventh instalment in the multimillion-copy epic series The Seven Sisters. The six D’Aplièse sisters have each been on their own incredible journey to discover their heritage, but they still have one question left unanswered: who and where is the seventh sister? They only have one clue – an image of a star-shaped emerald ring. The search to find the missing sister will take them across the globe – from New Zealand to Canada, England, France and Ireland – uniting them all in their mission to complete their family at last. In doing so, they will slowly unearth a story of love, strength and sacrifice that began almost one hundred years ago, as other brave young women risk everything to change the world around them. PRAISE FOR THE SEVEN SISTERS SERIES ‘The Seven Sisters series is heart-wrenching, uplifting and utterly enthralling’ Lucy Foley ‘Delicious reading’ Daily Mail ‘A compelling novel on an epic scale’ Sunday Express ‘Atmospheric, heart-rending and multi-layered’ Grazia ‘Addictive storytelling with a moving, emotional heart’ Dinah Jefferies
THE INSTANT #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER FROM LUCINDA RILEY Discover how the story ends – and how it all began. Maia, Ally, Star, CeCe, Tiggy, Electra and their long-lost missing sister are gathered together for the first time, on board the Titan, to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly. He has entrusted each of them with a clue to their past. But for every truth revealed another question emerges. How did Pa Salt amass his fortune? Why did he choose to adopt the sisters and why were they chosen from such different parts of the world? Have the answers been there all along, if only they had known where to find them? The sisters must confront the idea that their adored father was someone they barely knew – and, even more shockingly, that his long-buried secrets may still echo through the generations today. In Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt, the epic conclusion to the internationally bestselling Seven Sisters series, everything will be revealed at last.
"Star D'Apliaese is at a crossroads in her life after the sudden death of her beloved father--the elusive billionaire, affectionately called Pa Salt by his six daughters, all adopted from across the four corners of the world. He has left each of them a clue to her true heritage, and Star nervously decides to follow hers, which leads her to an antiquarian bookshop in London, and the start of a whole new world. A hundred years earlier, headstrong and independent Flora MacNichol vows she will never marry. She is happy and secure in her home in England's picturesque Lake District--just a stone's throw away from the residence of her childhood idol, Beatrix Potter--when machinations lead her to London, and the home of one of Edwardian society's most notorious society hostesses, Alice Keppel"--Amazon.com.
Star D'Apliese is at a crossroads in her life after the sudden death of her beloved father - the elusive billionaire, named Pa Salt by his six daughters, all adopted by him from the four corners of the world. He has left each of them a clue to their true heritage, but Star - the most enigmatic of the sisters - is hesitant to step out of the safety of the close relationship she shares with her sister CeCe. In desperation, she decides to follow the first clue she has been left, which leads her to an antiquarian bookshop in London, and the start of a whole new world.
An epic and transporting novel, the latest installment of the “heart-wrenching, uplifting, and utterly enthralling” (Lucy Foley, author of The Guest List) Seven Sisters series, unravelling between the dazzling streets of modern-day New York City and the breathtaking plains of 1940s colonial Kenya. Electra d’Aplièse is a top model who seems to have it all: beauty, fame, and wealth. But beneath the glittery veneer, she’s cracking under all the pressure. When her father dies, she turns to alcohol and drugs to ease the pain. As friends and colleagues fear for her health, Electra receives a shocking letter from a stranger who claims to be her grandmother. In 1939, New Yorker Cecily Huntley-Morgan arrives in Kenya’s Lake Naivasha region for the exciting chance to stay with her godmother, the famous socialite Kiki Preston. But after a sheltered upbringing, she’s astounded by the hedonistic antics of the other ex-pats in the infamous Happy Valley set. Cecily soon grows to love her stunning but complicated new home, and she even accepts a proposal of marriage from an enigmatic older cattle farmer. After a shocking discovery and with war looming, Cecily feels isolated and alone. Until she meets a young woman in the woods and makes her a promise that will change the course of her life forever. Featuring Lucinda Riley’s “engaging and mesmerizing” (Library Journal, starred review) storytelling and filled with unforgettable and moving characters, The Sun Sister explores how love can cross seemingly impossible boundaries.
The Pearl Sister is the fourth book in the number one international bestselling Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. After her beloved sister, Star, breaks free of their close relationship, CeCe is bereft and feels totally abandoned. Struggling to cope alone, she decides that she too must try to move on and endeavour to find her own life outside the sibling bubble that has formed her entire world. Wishing to run as far away as she can from the pain of her loss, she decides to head for the farthest corner of the earth - Australia, a country she has always had an irrational fear of visiting, yet the place where she knows her own story originally began. Stopping off in transit in Thailand to build courage to continue her journey, she retreats to a beach where she and Star had once spent time together. There, CeCe meets a mysterious man, who seems to be as reclusive as she is... Eventually arriving in Australia, CeCe must overcome her fear of being alone and also piece together the tangled strands of her heritage from the clues Pa Salt, her father, has left her.
This full-color, illustrated companion novel to The Cats of Tanglewood Forest includes "beautiful bookmaking, lovely storytelling, and wondrous illustrations....Readers will be enchanted" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). This captivating adventure from two masters of modern fantasy is a story of magic, family, and the power in believing in both. Sarah Jane has always wanted to meet a fairy, but she has no idea that the tiny wounded man she discovers in the Tanglewood Forest is about to ensnare her in a longtime war between rival magical clans. When her six sisters are kidnapped and split up by the opposing sides, she'll need the help of several friends--from the reclusive Aunt Lillian to the mysterious Apple Tree Man--to bring them home. But if they don't untangle themselves from the feud quickly, they could all be trapped in the fairy world forever. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly noted "the lyrical narrative blends a contemporary setting with a fairy tale that might have been plucked from a distinctly different time and place.
