THE PEARL SISTER by LUCINDA RILEY

 THE PEARL SISTER

by

LUCINDA RILEY

THE BLURB:

CeCe D'Apliese has never felt she fitted in anywhere. And following the death of her father; the elusive billionaire Pa Salt- so-called by the six daughters he adopted from around the globe- she finds herself at breaking point.

In desperation, and armed only with the scant clues her father has left her, Ce Ce begins a search to discover her true origins... a search that takes her to the searing heat and dusty plains of the Red Centre of Australia.

But what is her connection to Kitty Mc Bride, a Scottish clergyman's daughter who lived there over a hundred years ago?

As Ce Ce unearths deeply buried and long-forgotten secrets, she starts to believe that this wild, vast continent could offer her something she never felt possible: a sense of belonging and a home.

THE REALITY:

What a wonderful tome! So good, in fact, that I managed to flatten it in a short space of time, and will keep my eyes peeled for others in this series. CeCe is one of six adopted girls, and goes off in search of her roots and birth family (I think we can safely assume that the others in the series are similarly themed). She was a much-likeable and very real character, with lots of human facets, and very easy to warm to. I did wonder if the jumps back and forth between the present day and Kitty's time, starting in the in the early 1900s, might jar, and they did- but the storyline and clever scenic depictions were enough to cause you to be reabsorbed within minutes.

Covering Scotland, Australia and the Far East (the latter two I am yet to, and would love to, visit) I'm glad that I managed to discover new things, as I'm committed to a lifetime of constant learning. It was good the way the nuances of the Aboriginal culture, along with their people's sad history, were brought to life via their idioms, such as their need to “go walkabout” and their speech patterns. In fact, this author is very good at picking up and describing accents, full stop. The fact that the sisters are named after the Seven Sisters constellation makes me want to pick up my astronomy book and learn more (I've always been fascinated by the night sky; following witnessing a total eclipse of the moon at the age of 10) and I could also resonate with the quiet way the Aborigines choose to define themselves spiritually- by being, so to speak, “at one” with the universe and all her gifts, and taking the time to tune in to the intuition of nature.

I loved the theme of pearls- including a cursed pearl- that formed the backbone of the story, and kind of liked the character of Ace, although a part of me did, for some time, wonder why he was even in the book. But he ties up the story of the just desserts of the beautiful-but-dreadful pearl nicely, and it's good to not to leave threads hanging in a story. One gripe was that (spoiler alert!) Kitty didn't take her pleasure and make a life with her true love, Drummond, when she could, instead opening herself up to years of loneliness and longing, which were all her own fault. I kind of get what drove her, and am glad she eventually got a happy ending, but even so... Another gripe was that I couldn't understand CeCe's constant tiredness (she's someone who could sleep for up to 15 hours, and always rose late) and large appetite- I did actually suspect she might be pregnant, but this wasn't so, so perhaps we have to put it down to jet lag. But that aspect of her confused me.

This book possessed a good mix of characters, with a plethora of superbly interesting plot lines going on, and was a real history lesson. Definitely give this a go.