CeCe D'Aplièse has never felt she fitted in anywhere. Following the death of her father, the elusive billionaire Pa Salt - so-called by the six daughters he adopted from around the globe and named after the Seven Sisters star cluster - she finds herself at breaking point. Dropping out of art college, CeCe watches as Star, her beloved sister, distances herself to follow her new love, leaving her completely alone.
In desperation, she decides to flee England and discover her past; the only clues she has are a black-and-white photograph and the name of a woman pioneer who lived in Australia over one hundred years ago. En-route to Sydney, CeCe heads to the one place she has ever felt close to being herself: the stunning beaches of Krabi, Thailand. There amongst the backpackers, she meets the mysterious Ace, a man as lonely as she is and whom she subsequently realizes has a secret to hide . . .
A hundred years earlier, Kitty McBride, daughter of an Edinburgh clergyman, is given the opportunity to travel to Australia as the companion of the wealthy Mrs McCrombie. In Adelaide, her fate becomes entwined with Mrs McCrombie's family, including the identical, yet very different, twin brothers: impetuous Drummond, and ambitious Andrew, the heir to a pearling fortune.
When CeCe finally reaches the searing heat and dusty plains of the Red Centre of Australia, she begins the search for her past. As something deep within her responds to the energy of the area and the ancient culture of the Aboriginal people, her creativity reawakens once more. With help from those she meets on her journey, CeCe begins to believe that this wild, vast continent could offer her something she never thought possible: a sense of belonging, and a home . . .
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I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard that my father had died, I thought to myself as I stared out of the window and saw the complete blackness of night.1
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(Macmillan, 2 November 2017, e-book, 688 pages, borrowed from North Ayrshire Libraries via BorrowBox)
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I'm a fan of the author. I'm working my way through the Seven Sisters series in order. I enjoyed The Pearl Sister a lot. I'm pretty sure I started to read it before as some of the earlier chapters and events are familiar but I don't have a record of it anywhere which is strange. I like the way the author using a framing device to link the books to the previous one in the series and the next one. This is a nice little touch. CeCe is my favourite of the sisters so far, raw and vulnerable because she's dyslexic but as fierce and determined as he sister's. I was rooting for her from the first few pages. Like the other books, the chapters alternate from the present with CeCe's journey to find her family and flashbacks of her family's past. The time shifts work really well. This is a gripping read. I'd recommend it.
