Today is my stop on The Seven Sisters blog tour, I have an extract from the book for you today along with the chance to win a beautiful hardback edition of the book. So if you love the sound of this please make sure you enter the giveaway, which you will find at the end of this post.
Extract from The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley
I spent the small hours translating the quotes on the armillary
sphere. Whether each one was relevant to the other girls, I
didn’t feel it was my place to investigate. I left mine until last,
almost too frightened to know what it said. When I’d fi nished
translating it, I took a deep breath and read it.
Never let your fear decide your destiny
I knew that the seven words Pa Salt had left me could not
have described me and who I was any more accurately.
The next morning, after making my requisite cup of tea, I
returned to the bedroom, tentatively pulled the envelope from
under my pillow, and carried it into the sitting room. I studied
it for a while as I sipped my tea.
Then, taking a few deep breaths, I picked it up and tore it
open. Inside was a letter, but also something else; as I reached
inside to grasp it, it felt solid, yet somehow also soft beneath
my fingers. As I drew it out, I saw it was a triangular-shaped
stone tile, creamy in colour but with a green hue to it. I
turned it over and saw there was an illegible faded inscription
on the back of it.
Unable to decipher it, I set it down, and, with trembling
hands, I unfolded Pa’s letter and began to read.
Atlantis
Lake Geneva
Switzerland
My dearest Maia,
I’m sure as you sit and read this that you’ll be
feeling confused and sad. My beloved fi rst-born girl,
I can only tell you what a joy you have been to me.
Even though I can’t claim to be your natural father,
I beg you to believe that I have loved you as though I
was. And I must tell you that it was you who inspired
me to continue to adopt your beautiful younger
sisters, and that all of you have given me more
pleasure than anything else in my life.
You have never asked me to tell you about your
true heritage, the story of where I found you and the
circumstances that led up to your adoption. Rest
assured, I would have told you if you had, as one of
your sisters did a few years ago. But as I leave this
earth, I feel it is only right to allow you the freedom
to discover it in the future if you wish.
None of you came to me with a birth certifi cate,
and as you know, all of you are offi cially registered as
my daughters. No one can take that away from you.
However, at the very least, I can point you in the
right direction. After that, only you can choose to
take the journey back into your past if you so wish.
On the armillary sphere, which you have now
seen, are a set of coordinates indicating exactly where
on this planet your story began. And there is also a
small clue inside the envelope to help you further.
Maia, I can’t tell you what you’ll fi nd if you do
decide to return to the country of your birth. But
what I can tell you is that your true family and their
story touched my life.
I’m sad that there is no time left for me to relate
my own story to you, and that perhaps you sometimes
felt that I kept many things to myself. What I
did, I did to protect you all. But of course, no man,
or woman, is an island. And as you grew up, I had to
set you free to fly.
We all hold secrets inside us, but please believe
me when I say that family is everything. And that the
love of a parent for a child is the most powerful force
on earth.
Maia, it’s understandable that I look back on my
life and regret many of the decisions that I’ve made
during it. Of course, it is the human condition to
make mistakes, as that is how we learn and grow. But
my dearest wish is to at least pass on any wisdom
that I’ve gathered to my precious daughters.
I think there is a part of you that, because of your
life experience so far, has led you to lose your faith in
human nature. My dearest Maia, please know that I
too have suffered from the same affl iction and it
blighted my life at times. However, I have learnt over
the many years I’ve spent on this earth that for every
one bad apple, there are thousands more whose
hearts are full of kindness. And you must trust to the
intrinsic goodness inside each of us. Only then will
you be able to live and love fully.
I will leave you now, my dearest Maia; I’m sure I
have given you and your sisters much to think about.
I am watching over you always from the heavens.
Your loving father,
Pa Salt x
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning a copy of this stunning book is to enter via the rafflecopter below. You do need to be living in the UK or have a UK address to enter. Thanks for stopping by and good luck!
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