Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

Lucinda Riley
and Harry Whittaker

IT must have been with some trepidation – but also much pride – that Harry Whittaker took up the mantle and the metaphorical pen of his famous author mum Lucinda Riley to write the final chapter of her groundbreaking Seven Sisters series.

When Riley (pictured below) tragically died from cancer two years ago, she left behind a dazzling legacy of novels which culminated in the outstanding, but sadly unfinished, saga of a family of sisters, each separately adopted by a mysterious Swiss billionaire, and each with their own heritage story linked to remarkable people and events from the past.

The seven timeslip books – inspired by the star cluster, the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades – became a bestselling, international phenomenon, transporting readers from the pedestrian realities of everyday life to worlds past and present, and on wild adventures in locations as diverse and exciting as colourful Rio de Janeiro, icy Norway, the Red Centre of Australia, the gypsy caves of Granada, Spain, and Happy Valley in Kenya.

The Missing Sister – published only weeks after the author died and which finally revealed the much-anticipated tale of the previously unknown sister, Merope – had always been planned as the series swansong but Riley had already decided that one last epic chapter was needed... the unveiling of the true identity of the girls’ father, known to them as Pa Salt. And fortunately for avid fans of the series, Riley had also mapped out – and written – pivotal sections of the entire, incredible story of the Seven Sisters some years ago when a Hollywood TV studio optioned the books for a multi-season series. It was a plot outline which she shared with her son, who had closely followed and absorbed the series, and during her final illness, she entrusted him to finish her work in case the unthinkable happened. And what an emotional, intensely personal and intellectual challenge that must have turned out to be for Whittaker (pictured below).

But the result is Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt, a stunning 764-page, time-travelling journey of revelations and surprises which weaves together the intricate web of story threads from the previous seven books and delivers a satisfying, unforgettable and often tearjerking closure to Riley’s epic odyssey.

It was a unique and ambitious storytelling feat which began eight years ago when Riley introduced us to the fascinating, adopted D’Aplièse sisters, based on the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades, with legend saying that the mythological siblings were all unique and strong females.

The childhood home of the six girls (one of the sisters had always been missing) is Atlantis, a fabulous, secluded castle on the shores of Lake Geneva and when Pa Salt dies under strange circumstances and is clandestinely buried at sea, the girls are each handed a tantalising clue to their true heritage by the family

lawyer... a clue which takes them across the world. And after experiencing love and loss, crossing borders and oceans, and finally discovering the identity of their missing sister, the young women are now about to uncover the truth of the father they adored but about who, it seems, they know very little.

In Paris in 1928, Paris, a boy is found, moments from death, and taken in by the kindly Landowski family. Gentle, precocious, talented and musical, he flourishes in his new home, and the family show him a life he hadn’t dreamed possible. But he refuses to speak a single word to them about who he really is... because by pretending to be mute, he can never betray where he came from. And as memories of his real father fade, he feels it is perhaps for the best because if he is tortured now, he will have nothing to tell. 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 and the promise he has vowed to keep. But across Europe, evil is rising in Germany and no one’s safety is guaranteed. In his heart, he knows the time will come when he must flee once more.

Fast forward to the Aegean in 2008 and the seven united sisters are gathered together for the first time on board Pa Salt’s yacht, Titan, to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly. But to the surprise of everyone, it is the missing sister who Pa Salt has chosen to entrust with the clue that links their pasts. And for every truth revealed, another question emerges. The sisters must confront the idea that their father was someone they barely knew and even more shockingly... that these long-buried secrets may still have consequences for them today.

In true homage to his born storyteller mum, Whittaker takes up the reins of the unforgettable, multi-stranded Seven Sisters epic and brings us a conclusion full of Riley’s rich and varied characters, real history, breathtaking locations, exhilarating twists and turns, and the relationships and love stories that are the bedrock of not just the series but what it is to be human. Stepping into the stunningly successful and complex brainchild of another author (even if it is your own mother) was always a huge ask, but it’s one that Whittaker has achieved with aplomb, empathy and some imaginative plotting, allowing the sisters’ stories to perfectly intertwine and tie up the loose ends of a staggering eight-book series.

The early, unknown life of the remarkable and mysterious Pa Salt was always going to be the lynchpin that held together both the series and the lives of the very different sisters, and being able to witness these women following his story across the globe has been a treat for readers who feared that they might never have that final satisfaction. Captivating, magical, and heroic on the part of a son who has shown himself to have his mother’s writing talent and determination, Pa Salt and the Seven Sisters are now destined to forever be the 'stars' of a magnificent and unparalleled time-travelling series.
(Macmillan, hardback, £22)