Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt: The epic conclusion to the Seven Sisters series

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Pa Salt's journey was breathtaking, some parts were unbelievable, but in the end we got an answer to everything. The beginning was sometimes a bit confusing and I often had to turn to the other books to remember who is who... then I just started to write a chart to myself to mark the main places and people. I wish the Vaughan family storyline was more detailed. Atlas and Elle spent many years there and we only had two interactions with Flora. Electra's story was also a bit wobbly for me. It just felt too artificial that someone would keep a business card of a man who helped him once...I didn't feel the importance of this relationship. I really liked the explanations of Georg, Claudia and Marina. Shortly before the publication of The Missing Sister , Lucinda announced an eighth and final book in The Seven Sisters series, promising to answer the question at the heart of the story: Who is Pa Salt? Before her death, Lucinda was able to write several important passages and detailed notes on the story. She expressed a clear wish that her eldest son, Harry, should complete the series if the worst were to happen.

y lo peor, fue saber que no sería Lucinda quien lo terminaría, ya que ella murió hace casi dos años ya. Sin embargo dejó todo encarrilado para que fuera su hijo quien pusiera punto final al esta estupenda serie y no puedo más que felicitar a Harry Whitaker, porque creo que su madre estaría super orgullosa de lo bien que lo ha hecho. However, following the trend from the previous two books, we would expect Pa Salt to feel some sort of affection towards Flora - from what we’ve seen, she neither rescued nor had a relationship with him beyond being his employer. Perhaps he was just impressed by her drive to get the best for her children, no matter what?

maggio 2023

It’s been an immense and very rare privilege to work with Lucinda. Popular fiction is often looked down on but when authors like Lucinda break through and strike an emotional chord with their readers that really is the joy of publishing. Lucinda had an enormous capacity for fun, friendship and love and I was honoured to call her a friend. I, and the whole team at Pan Mac, are so thankful to have been given the opportunity to go on this journey with her. I am going to miss her terribly and I know many of my colleagues here and around the world will do so too.' I think it would be perfect if you could read these books one after the other in succession. I didn't have the time for that, I have too many other books for that. But I did appreciate that the authors give enough information along the way to jog your memory. The Missing Sister was a bit disappointment to me, as it raised more questions than it gave answers to. I was very looking forward to the closing part of this amazing series. I have to say I am not disappointed. It was well thought through and every loose end was cut. I was so caught up with the story that I couldn't even tell which parts were not written by Lucinda herself. Her son did an amazing job!

The last time we see Pa Salt in The Seven Sisters is in December 1929, where he is still living with Landowski and Laurent in Paris.

What are the other books in the Seven Sisters series? 

Putting it all together, and strongly speculating here, I think that Pa Salt (a.k.a the little French orphan / Bo / Mr Tanit / the ice-cream man) lost his wife (Elle / Mrs Tanit) at some stage between 1944 and 1951. At some point within that time, she gave birth to a daughter, putting the daughter at age 56-63 in 2007. We don't know Marina's age, but could she be Pa Salt's daughter? It doesn't necessarily fit with the timing, given we would expect Merope to be the youngest. Pa Salt also said to Maia that he never expected to bring the 7th sister home, so that theory requires some more work. Ignoring the Pearl Sister, these people all fit in very well together - the timing all works out, and they show the development of Pa Salt as a person. In every instance he is caring and kind, particularly towards orphans and those who are disadvantaged. It also fits into the narrative in most cases for why he might have adopted each daughter, having met and respected their great/great-great grandmothers. I rarely shed a tear when reading novels, but confess this is one book that had me sobbing at the end. I think the culmination of this much-loved series coming to a close, the passing of the author before the end and the final parting scene which had all the feels got me! Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt was a most fitting tribute a once in a lifetime series and dearly missed author.

We last see Bo and Elle on 8 April 1940, where they are discussing leaving Bergen with a fisherman who is headed to Scotland. Ok, disclaimer, because I'm sure it will be an unpopular opinion, but I DID actually enjoy it. There were just a lot of little things that bugged me. I was never a huge fan of Lucinda Riley's writing, and I'm not sure which parts of this were hers and which were her son's, but I'm really not a fan of the dialogue. I hate how often the characters call each other "my love". It rings false and I don't know anyone who actually talks like that. There are also a few grammatical errors/word choice errors, and I admit that those really bother me. It's just not a writing style I like. BUT, I do like the stories, which is why I kept reading after the first one. The seven sisters are gathered together for the first time, on board the Titan to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly. Maia: “Actually, don’t worry, those don’t sound like normal things that parents would tell their children. Forget that I asked - I should be off translating a story anyway.” During those four years, Lucinda penned 5 novels, and this week, The Missing Sister is Number 1 in book charts across the world.This story starts with Pa Salt as a child and follows his life story across the world. It reveals everything by way of a diary he left behind. Make no mistake, this book is long and slow paced, you get given tiny bits of information at a time.