As with many others, I’d heard the hype
around the series, and when the book was described as having the sisters at a
house called Atlantis, I was super excited to be reading a fantasy/sci-fi
series. I was wrong! This is definitely more contemporary women’s fiction and
not quite was I was expecting.
Six girls, all adopted by a wealthy
businessman known to them as Pa Salt, were all brought up on an estate near
Lake Geneva. None of them know their origins and all look as different as night
and day. Pa Salt has died and in a strange twist been laid to rest out in the
ocean before any of the girls could get to him to say goodbye. The girls have each
been left a token as well as some sort of clue that they can choose to explore their
heritage if they so desire. Each sister has been named after a star in the
Seven Sisters cluster—but the 7th sister was never adopted.
Maia, the eldest sister that was the only
one to still live on the estate, decides to take the plunge, and armed with her
clues, sets off to Rio de Janeiro. At a mansion, well past its sell-by date,
she meets Senhora Carvalho and her helper Yara. At first, they wish for no
interaction with her, but with such a strong family resemblance, Yara manages
to convince Senhora Carvalho to part with lifechanging knowledge.
Eighty years previously, a headstrong
Izabela Bonifacio convinces her father to allow her to accompany architect Heiter
da Silva Costa and his family to Paris before he gets married. The marriage is
one she knows merely to be of financial and social arrangement and she longs
for something else in her life. Heiter is working on the statue of Christ the
Redeemer and through him she is introduced to Laurent Brouilly, a sculptor who
will turn her life upside down.
Maia finds out how her story and that of
Izabela’s connect and some of her questions about where she comes from are
answered. The big question of how Pa Salt was there to adopt her and how he
came to find her still remains a mystery.
The story of the past takes up a huge chunk
of this book and I almost felt that Maia’s story was not centre stage. The
historical facts, especially those relating to the tiles on the statue and the
secret markings behind them, were very interesting. While I wasn’t sold on the
book or the writing, I’ll keep reading the series for a few more books at
least, as I’d like to know who Pa Salt was, who the missing 7th sister is/was never
to be and why he chose those specific girls to be together.
