Lucinda is an Irish writer, and she had an early career as an actress, before writing her first book at the age of twenty-four. She’s currently writing the Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of sisters after the death of their elusive billionaire father, who adopted them from around the globe. Lucinda is currently the most popular female novelist in NZ when it comes to book sales!
The Sun Sister is the sixth in this series, but it can easily be read as a stand-alone. It centres on Electra, who seems to have it all. She is one of the world’s top models, and she is beautiful, rich and famous. But all of this is a front to a young woman who is struggling with demons and who has drug and alcohol addiction. When she learns of her father’s death her addiction deepens, and then she receives a letter from a stranger who claims to be her biological grandmother. That’s when the novel goes back to 1939 and we begin to learn about Electra’s heritage through an unlikely character.
From 1939 we follow the story of Cecily Huntley-Morgan, a well-to-do young lady who goes from New York to Kenya to stay with her godmother after having her heart broken. And in Kenya she meets Bill Forsythe, a confirmed bachelor and cattle farmer, who she is drawn too – so when personal disaster strikes, Cecily decides to accept Bill’s marriage proposal, enough he seems unlikely to give up his bachelor ways. After they marry, he is often away, and she is lonely and isolated – until she finds a new born-baby abandoned in the woods next to their farmhouse who will change their lives – and will be the link to Electra in the modern day.
The Sun Sister is a doorstop of a book, but completely absorbing! I thought the way the author alternated the story back and forth between the modern day and the past, was very well done. It’s a book about a young woman finding her way in the world, and by discovering her heritage she can move forward in her life. I think anyone who reads this book will want to devour all the other novels about the other sisters also. It’s a fabulous series!
Reviewer: Karen McMillan
Macmillan Publishers