Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt – Lucinda Riley (The Seven Sisters Series)

Spanning a lifetime of love and loss, crossing borders and oceans, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt, co-authored by her son Harry Whittaker, draws Lucinda Riley’s saga to its stunning, unforgettable conclusion.

1928, Paris. A boy is found, moments from death, and taken in by a kindly family. Gentle, precocious, talented, he flourishes in his new home, and the family show him a life he hadn’t dreamed possible. But he refuses to speak a word about who he really is.

As he grows into a young man, falling in love and taking classes at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris, he can almost forget the terrors of his past, or the promise he has vowed to keep. But across Europe an evil is rising, and no-one’s safety is certain. In his heart, he knows the time will come when he must flee once more.

2008, the Aegean. The seven sisters are gathered together for the first time, on board the Titan, to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly.

To the surprise of everyone, it is the missing sister who Pa Salt has chosen to entrust with the clue to their pasts. But for every truth revealed, another question emerges. The sisters must confront the idea that their adored father was someone they barely knew. And even more shockingly: that these long-buried secrets may still have consequences for them today.

In this epic conclusion to the Seven Sisters series, everything will be revealed.

Book info: Book 8 of 8. Print length: 768 pages. Publisher: Macmillan. Publication Date: 11 May 2023. Audio info: Listening length: 24 hours 59 minutes. Narrator: Richard Armitage & Tuppence Middleton.

Lucinda Riley was born in 1965 in Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and continue to strike an emotional chord with all cultures around the world. The Seven Sisters series specifically has become a global phenomenon, creating its own genre, and there are plans to create a seven-season TV series.

Her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Italian Bancarella prize, The Lovely Books award in Germany, and the Romantic Novel of the Year award. In 2020 she received the Dutch Platinum award for sales over 300,000 copies for a single novel in one year – an award last won by J K Rowling for Harry Potter.

In collaboration with her son Harry Whittaker, she also devised and wrote a series of books for children called ‘The Guardian Angels’ series.

Though she brought up her four children mostly in Norfolk in England, in 2015 she fulfilled her dream of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home, and indeed this was where her last five books were written.

Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died on June 11th 2021, surrounded by her family.

My Review:

I have listened to the entire series on Audible since June 2020 and honestly, I can’t recommend these books enough. Beautifully written and narrated, this series is absolutely wonderful.

For those who haven’t yet read any of these books, I would suggest starting with The Seven Sisters (book 1) and reading them (or listening to them) in order to full appreciate the intricate plotting and detailed reseach which went into creating this epic family drama.

For those who have read them and intend to read the final book then what are you waiting for? I pre-ordered this book as soon as it became available and have waited patiently for it to drop into my Audible Library on 11 May this year.

Due to the sad news of Lucinda’s death and reading about how her son Harry Whittaker lovingly took over bringing this series to it’s worthy conclusion, I wanted to savour this final instalment and give it the respect it deserves.

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is brilliantly narrated by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton and I was transported back in time to the 1920’s Paris where we meet a very young Atlas and follow his heartbreaking and traumatic life through his diaries. Slowly allowing the reader/listener to learn more about how Atlas became Pa Salt and how his 7 daughters came into his life.

Throughout the book, each sister’s unique voice can still be heard and their individual stories are beautifully interwoven in each chapter. Any questions I had about who Pa Salt was, or how he came to adopt each daughter was explained and clarified in stunning detail.

In my opinion, Harry Whittaker has given the readers everything we could have wished for and more. I will miss this series so much but will continue to recommend it for years to come.

If I could, I would give this book the SEVEN STARS it deserves.