So, this is what I know, as a reader, I will get from Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters series. I will get more than one story. I will get a number of interesting historical settings, mainly based on real experiences and often real people. The website will give me more information, so I can follow trails that interest me. It will be academically researched, with attention to women’s voices and experiences. It will be beautifully written. I won’t mind spending 26hours listening to the audiobook.

This books focuses on Electra - supermodel, junkie, alcoholic, self-absorbed and very rich. The story focuses on how she changes as life impacts on her. The secondary stories take you to Manhattan in the 1920s, Britain in 1939, Kenya and then back to the Manhattan of the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement.

Another fascinating novel. Onwards- to book 7!

5⭐️

Pidän sarjasta paljon, mutta tämä osa ei ihan lähtenyt. Taustatarina oli yllätyksettömyydestä huolimatta mukaansatempaava ja koskettavakin, mutta Electran osuus eli nykyhetki ei oikein toiminut. Tarinaan oli ympätty mukaan vähän liikaa kaikkea, ja näin ollen monet elementit jäivät pintaraapaisun tasolle. Tiiliskivi-luokan koosta huolimatta kokonaisuus jäi aika pinnalliseksi.

Installment 6# Took me a while to get into this book, probably reading back to back Riley books does that.
Again, Riley creates a very rich, in-depth historical journey through Africa this time. I enjoyed how this sister was different from her other sisters but felt by the end she became quite passive and submissive, unlike her earlier persona. I found some of the relationships in this story quite strange and odd, again, query whether some relationships were unnecessary. The ending was cheesy

Totally unsurprisingly, this sweeping tale, part 6 of the Seven Sisters series, blew me away.

Content warnings:

-drug use
-drug addiction
-rehabilitation
-gun violence
-war
-racism (so much racism on so many levels, shown clearly & carefully)
-colonialism
-death
-suicide
-Islam
-Christianity
-alcoholics (& narcotics) anonymous
-mugging

Your mileage may vary, this book goes a LOT of places, please take care of yourself while reading


Characters of Colour?

So many, all beautifully written without backing away from the challenges BIPOC face, from a POV other than African American. Something not often seen, but highly valuable as someone not African American.


QUILTTBAG/Queer Characters?

There’s reference to one of the other sisters, who is not straight, but no explicitly Queer main characters in this one.


Disabled Characters?

YES. Multiple kinds!
We have “shell shocked” war veterans, traumatised socialites, alcoholics, other addicts (including workaholics, might I add), but there are no characters with physical disabilities beyond ageing. I get that we cannot have all the things, all the time, & just the disabled characters we have is progress, but is it too much to ask for a chronic illness, intellectual disability, or physical disability? Probably. I shall live in hope, though.


Worth my time?

This beast of a book took me three weeks or so, on & off.
Why did it take so long?
It’s traumatic. There are so many levels of loss, suffering, & trauma that I had to read in stages.

And it was absolutely worth it.
Riley writes stories outside her white, privileged position with such compassion & respect. Each layer of story, each painful fragment, was wrapped in such careful consideration that it doesn’t matter if you have any connection to anything in this story. You can access it, understand it, & feel the effects.


Would I re-read?

Guess what I have planned for when the last book comes out?
SERIES RE-READ H*CK YEAH


Recommend?

To people who have read any of the previous books, to people who are interested in how to write characters of Colour well, to those who enjoy sweeping, emotional journeys & framing stories (for double the story!)

Sexta parte de la saga de las Siete hermanas, y me ha sorprendido mucho, sobre todo tras el chasco que supuso, para mí, el libro anterior de la saga, el de La hermana Luna.

Aquí tenemos a la hermana más pequeña, Electra, la más famosa de la familia. Su pasado estará enlazado con Cecily, una chica aburguesada americana que, tras un desengaño amoroso, decide poner tierra de por medio y viajar a África.

La historia de Electra es muy dura, igual que la de Cecily. Creo que además, a diferencia de las anteriores historias, esta se centra mucho en el desarrollo de Electra como persona, y en que una de sus antepasadas sea la que le cuente todo. En las otras, está todo contado a través de diarios, libros y testimonios de personas no tan directas.

Habla sobre el racismo, las clases sociales, el problema de las drogas en países desarrollados como subdesarrollados y, sobre todo, en las oportunidades y la bondad de la gente.

Cecily ha sido la protagonista que más me ha gustado de las antepasadas, una mujer que empieza siendo una joven risueña e inocente, que poco a poco se va convirtiendo en una mujer fuerte, luchadora y amorosa.

If I could rate this zero stars I would. This series does not get any better. Thank the lord there is only one left.

Amazing.