The Shadow Sister by @lucindariley

By Pamelascott
The silent one who must find her voice - set in London and Edwardian England, featuring Royal scandals and Beatrix Potter in the beautiful Lake District.

Star D'Aplièse 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 . . .

A hundred years earlier, headstrong, and independent Flora MacNichol vows she will never marry. She is happy and secure in her home in the Lake District, living close to her idol, Beatrix Potter, when machinations outside her control lead her to London, and the home of one of Edwardian society's most notorious players, Alice Keppel. Flora is pulled between passionate love and duty to her family, but finds herself a pawn in a game - the rules of which are only known to others, until a meeting with a mysterious gentleman unveils the answers that Flora has been searching for her whole life . . .

As Star learns more of Flora's incredible journey, she too goes on a voyage of discovery, finally stepping out of the shadow of her sister and opening herself up to the possibility of love.

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I will always remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard that my father had died.- 1

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(@panmacmillan, 3 November 2016, e-book, 721 pages, borrowed from @AmazonKindle, #PrimeReading)

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I thoroughly enjoyed The Shadow Sister, the third book in The Seven Sisters series. I plan to read the rest of the series at some point. This book starts off close to the start of the other books with Pa Salt's death and Star deciding to search for her birth family. Like the other book, this is split between two timelines, Star in the present, searching for the truth and trying to make a life of her own away from her dyslexic sister Cee-Cee and the past of Flora, who Star may or may not be related to. I enjoyed the way both stories weave together.

4/5