The Seven Sisters

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you will probably have worked out who some of my most favourite authors are. One of these authors has embarked on an adventure and a challenge into the unknown and is going to delight us as readers.

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley is the first of what is going to be seven (yes seven!) novels.

I was lucky enough in September to get a sneak preview of this book and a wonderful lunch with the author herself as well as some fellow bloggers and lovers of reading. (More of that in another post).

Here is a short video about the inspiration behind the idea of The Seven Sisters

What has fascinated me even before picking up this book to read is the background, the inspiration and the reality behind The Seven Sisters. So what do we know?

In astronomy:

The Pleiades, also known as ‘The Seven Sisters’, is the nearest star cluster to earth situated between 434 and 446 light years away. The cluster is the source of the names of each of the sisters in The Seven Sisters series.

 The Pleiades is positioned near the shoulder of Taurus (The Bull), the larger constellation to the right of Orion’s Belt. Each of the stars is over 100 times brighter than our sun, and the human eye, from any country on the globe, can see at least six stars, with a seventh which varies in brightness and is not always visible – the reason for this fluctuation in brightness is still unknown. Some people with exceptional eyesight claim to be able to see up to 20 stars in the cluster without the aid of a telescope.

Not only do they feature in astronomy, but The Seven Sisters are tied up with myths and legends of the past. Greeks, Aboriginal, Hindu, the list seems endless.

But for all this background you do not need to know any of it to be able to read this novel. If like me you have read around it, all it is going to do is enrich the actual novel.

And whilst we get to meet all the sisters in the first opening chapters of the novel, it is the story of Maia, the eldest daughter and the one seen as the ‘mother’ and the ‘carer’. In legend the story goes that despite her beauty, she was a shy, waif like woman who preferred her own company and lived alone in the caves. At one time, her star shone brighter than any of the others. However, the next sister’s star, Alcyone, now shines brighter – which some say symbolises sibling rivalry between the two sisters in the past.

The Seven Sisters is published by Pan Macmillan and is out on 6th November.

I have read the first 100 pages and could wax lyrical about them now, but I am so excited to be reading the book, that it will have to wait. There will be more about this book over the coming days.

October Roundup

I am not really sure where to begin with October’s reading. As it has literally taken me all over the place, but looking back on it, a lot of it was just a pure joy to read.

I think I maybe one of the few that actually enjoyed Sophie Hannah – The Monogram Murders and I put this down to, not coming to the book with the expectation of getting an Agatha Christie. If you do that then you are going to be disappointed.

I will be one of the many that has enjoyed the wonderful new novel from Rachel Joyce – The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey. There is something so lyrical about her writing and this wonderful story really is a must read alongside, with and in companion to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I am sure this book is going to win some sort of award.

October saw me taking part in the Margaret Kennedy reading week which was kindly hosted by Jane. A new author for me to read and I read The Ladies of Lyndon, a rather interesting read and very much a reflection of social history. I will try another book, perhaps in the future but for now I went back to something more familiar and I am sure a reread.

P.G.Wodehouse – Right Ho, Jeeves is a great introduction to all the characters and the life that Bertie Wooster leads. I know I have read this before and because of that I probably skim read a lot of it, but still it is a joy to read. I only now wish I had kept all my Wodehouse books I had bought many moons ago. At least then I would know what I have read.

I have lots of books I have bought that I so want to read and just a few which have kindly been sent to me which I should get round to reading. I try and rotate between these two sorts, but I have got lost in reading some cracking good heart warming and dare I say cosy reads, because for a couple of weeks I have not been a place to read novels that require time and thought and reflection. I need immediate satisfaction which is why I picked up Trisha Ashley – A Winter’s Tale. It is the last of the Sticklepond novels I had left to read and also completed another book on my challenge list for 2014.

Reading a series of books is always great fun as you can get totally lost in the place and the characters, a different approach I have been reading lately is Harriet Evans – A Place for Us (Part 3). Desperate to know what happens next as soon as I got my hands on this part I devoured it in one sitting. I was the left bereft waiting for the next and final part to arrive A Place for Us (Part 4)*. Whilst I actually finished this on the 1 November, because I had not got out of bed yet and started the day, I have stuck it in with October’s reads. Of course as I write this round up post I have yet to review it, but I am glad I have read the book but part of me was slightly disappointed. I need to get my head round my thoughts first.

That also goes for Emma Hannigan – The Heart of Winter*. I was enjoying the story immensely but something about it took a wrong turn for me and I was left rather flat, when I felt that perhaps more should have happened but was simply glossed over. However, this is a new author to me and I was rather taken with the setting which can always play so much of a part in a story. I am intrigued by her other novels.

Starting a new series of books is good until you realise that the first one is great and you whizz through reading it, that you realise you may have to wait along time for the next one to come out. This is exactly what has happened with Alexandra Brown – The Great Christmas Knit Off*. If you read this blog then you know I like crafts and of course knitting, so this book was really meant to be read by me. I so want to go and live in Tindledale.

I know it has been October and that Christmas has started to take over in the supermarkets, the shops and catalogues are falling through the door at a rate of knots. I seem to have started my Christmas reading a lot more earlier than I would normally if I was planning such things. I have said before on this blog and for fear of quoting myself – Christmas would not be Christmas if there was not a book by Debbie Macomber. And so it came to past that I read Mr Miracle*. I do love her ‘Angel’ series of books and this was just as good and made me feel really Christmassy! Not what you need in October and certainly not what you need when you are having to order decorations for work and dealing with someone who wants to change Christmas. However, all these Christmas and feel good books have reminded me that there is some really lovely people out there and when it all gets too much for me I can escape in a good book….or two!

*review yet to appear on blog.