‘I do not think so, no, but I can check.’
Then the house phone rang in Ma’s hands, making us all jump again.
‘Allo?’ she said in French. ‘Ah, bien.’ She ended the call and headed to the front door.
‘Who is it?’ asked Ally suspiciously.
‘It is Georg Hoffman.’
Ally and I raised an eyebrow as Ma walked into the hall and unlocked the front door to let him in.
‘Sorry to startle everyone,’ Pa’s elegant silver-haired lawyer said as he walked into the sitting room. ‘I would have called earlier, but I thought it was simply better to come in person as soon as I could.’
‘What is it, Georg?’ I asked. ‘Has something happened?’
‘Yes, it has, but please, do not be alarmed. It is, well, quite incredible news, which is why I wanted to speak to you as soon as possible. May I sit down?’
‘Of course.’ Ma indicated a chair and Georg sat down and then drew an envelope out of his jacket pocket.
‘I received this letter about an hour ago at home. Ally, Maia, I think you should read it.’
‘Is it to do with Pa? Has something happened to one of our sisters?’ asked Ally, eyeing the letter as though it contained dynamite that might blow up at her very touch.
‘No, no. Please, believe me, there is nothing wrong.’
‘Then just tell us,’ Ally demanded.
‘You do not know, girls, but for many, many years, your father and I have conducted a search that has taken both of us across the world. And down countless rabbit holes and dead ends. Then last year, just before your father died, he received some new information, which he passed on to me. Finally tonight, I received some news that I believe is accurate.’
‘What about?’ Ally asked, the voice of all of us.
‘Well, you must read the letter, but I have reason to believe that, after all this time, we may have found your missing sister . . .’
I always knew that writing Electra’s story would present the biggest challenge of my writing career. Besides her ancestors’ story, which takes place during the mid-twentieth century – a momentous time of change for African Americans – Electra herself is definitely the most complex and difficult of the sisters. And because all my plots are written holistically – I only know where I am beginning and ending the stories – the twists and turns of The Sun Sister have been as shocking and enlightening for me as they have been for Electra. Never have I found myself so deeply involved or moved as I have been by the bravery, humanity and sheer determination of the incredible people, both past and present, that I have encountered during the writing of it.
It is important to remember that The Sun Sister is a work of biographical fiction, backed up by factual and historical research; many of the characters who appear in the story are real, some are not. Therefore, the information and help that has been so generously shared with me is both my own interpretation of fact, plus my imagination, and any mistakes are totally of my own making.
To make sure that I was getting my facts as accurate as I could about the issues Electra and her ancestors face in the story, I have many people to thank. Firstly, as always, to my amazing little team: Olivia Riley, who holds the fort so well, and who also runs our Seven Sisters shop site, which sends all proceeds it makes to the charity Mary’s Meals, in her spare time. Ella Micheler, my tenacious, passionate editorial and research assistant, who is great at working under pressure (of which there is a lot), and Susan Moss, best friend and shoulder in times of crisis (of which there are also a lot!), who tidies up my dictation and is pedantic to the last on spotting the tiniest of errors. Jacqueline Heslop, who is simply my right- and left-hand woman, and Leanne Godsall and Jessica Kearton, who have come on board to ease the chaotic path of my life since the Seven Sisters appeared in it.
In Kenya: Be and Iain Thompson, Chris and Fi Manning, Don Turner, Jackie Ayton, Caro White and Richard Leakey, all of whom generously shared their time and stories of life in Kenya during the ‘Happy Valley’ era and beyond. High tea with Lt. Colin Danvers and his lovely wife Maria at the infamous Muthaiga Club, which stands like a time capsule on the outskirts of Nairobi, was a particular highlight. Rodgers Mulwa, our intrepid driver and fount of indigenous Kenyan knowledge, who drove us out into the middle of nowhere on tracks that hardly existed in search of the original Happy Valley, and ended up with us on the middle of Lake Naivasha in a tiny plastic boat surrounded by hippos, without breaking into a sweat once.
In New York: the biggest thanks go to Tracy Allebach Dugan (and her lovely husband Harry). During the course of this book she has become my unofficial research assistant for all things American and I can’t thank her enough for her help. Doris Lango-Leak at the Schaunberg Centre, whose tour and insight into Harlem past and present was invaluable, Allen Hassell, and the Rev. Alfred Carson at Mother Zion AME Church, whose Sunday morning service was the highlight of my entire six months of research. Carlos Decamps, our fantastic Manhattan driver, who gave me such a wealth of local information, despite getting pulled over by the cops and getting a ticket as we kerb-crawled around Harlem so I could see what I needed to see. Also for the help I received through Jeannie Lavelle, who explained in detail the pathways Electra needed to follow to recovery at her rehab centre. Adonica and Curtis Watkins, who provided so many important insights not only into AFAM culture, but equally, the painful and treacherous challenges that young addicts face when they fall foul of the law to pay for their fix. Also, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank the parents who lost their precious children through addiction and were prepared to share their stories with me, in the hope they might help others facing similar circumstances.
As always, to my many fantastic publishers around the world, who have been so incredibly supportive of the mad idea I presented them with six years ago. It’s difficult to believe that we are nearing the end of such a huge project . . .
Julia Brahm, Stefano Guiso, Cathal and Mags Dinneen and ‘the lads’, Mick Neish and Dom Fahy, Melisse Rose, Lucy Foley, Tracy Rees, Pam Norfolk, Sean Gascoine, Sarah Halstead, Tracy Blackwell, Kate Pickering, James Pascall, Ben Brinsden, Janet Edmonds and Valerie Pennington, Asif Chaudry, and his daughter, Mariam, (whose name I was kindly allowed to borrow for one of my characters in the story), who have all in their different ways supported me so stoically in the past year. Jez Trevathan, Claudia Negele, Annalisa Lottini, Antonio Franchini, Alessandro Torrentelli, Knut Gorvell, Pip Hallam, Fernando Mercadante and Sergio Pinheiro – all of them publishers, but far more importantly these days, friends. Oh! And a special mention to Sander Knol, for somehow managing to convince the whole of the Netherlands to read the Seven Sisters series!
To my family: my husband, agent and rock, Stephen, (somehow, we are just about to celebrate twenty years of living, working, fighting and laughing together!), Harry, Isabella, Leonora and Kit: for once, I don’t have any words to express the love and support they have all offered me during the past year. Nothing would mean anything without you all.
And finally, to you, my readers. Even though I would continue to tell my stories to myself if no one else wanted to hear them, the fact that you do really is amazing, because I feel part of a ‘gang’. We all go on the journeys together – I laugh, cry (a lot!) and get frustrated with the characters just as you do when they seem to be making terrible mistakes. So thank you for keeping me company on those long writing nights, and equally, for your support and huge generosity with our Mary’s Meals charity: the Seven Sisters shop site will raise enough money this year to sponsor two African schools, providing a lunchtime meal for each child, which therefore encourages both the pupil (and the parents) to make sure they attend.
Electra’s story has left me humbled and horrified, as I found myself dealing with issues that I knew existed, but which sat safely on the edges of my life. As a novelist, I am aware that as a white European woman of Irish origin (although less than one hundred years ago, I would have been an ethnic minority too) I currently have an adv
antage in the sphere of publishing, where so many ethnic voices are under-represented. I entreat publishers to broaden their author spectrum, so that the world can read more stories from the cultures they represent. In a world whose current political climate feels as if it is edging perilously backwards towards the dark days of the past, never has it been more important to do so. For now, I can only hope that I’ve done Electra, and those whose stories she represents, justice.
Lucinda Riley
October 2019
To discover the inspiration behind the series and to read about the real stories, places and people in this book, please see www.lucindariley.com.
Also on this website you can learn more about www.marysmeals.org.uk and how to contribute to their wonderful work.
Munya Andrews, The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades (Spinifex Press, 2004)
Juliet Barnes, The Ghosts of Happy Valley (Aurum, 2013)
Janet Dewart Bell, Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement (The New Press, 2018)
George Bennet, Kenya: A Political History, the Colonial Period (Oxford University Press, 1963)
Cheryl Bentsen, Maasai Days (Collins, 1990)
Nicholas Best, Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya (Secker & Warburg, 1979)
Karen Blixen, Out of Africa (Putnam, 1937)
Ron Chepesiuk, Gangsters of Harlem (Barricade Books, 2007)
Bettye Collier-Thomas, Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement (NYU Press, 2001)
Vicky L. Crawford, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers (Indiana University Press, 1993)
James Fox, White Mischief (Jonathan Cape, 1982)
Martin Luther King, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches (HarperOne, 2003)
Stephen Mills, The History of the Muthaiga Club: Volume 1 (Mills Publishing, 2006)
Frances Osborne, The Bolter: Idina Sackville (Virago 2008)
Tepilit Ole Saitoti, Maasai (Abradale Press, 1993)
Paul Spicer, The Temptress: The scandalous life of Alice, Countess de Janzé (Simon & Schuster, 2011)
Joseph Thomson, Through Masai Land (Frank Cass & Co Ltd, 1968)
Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Ballantine Books, 1992)
Electra’s Story
Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold twenty million copies worldwide. She is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author.
Lucinda is currently writing the Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is based allegorically on the mythology of the famous star constellation. It has become a global phenomenon, with each book in the series being a No. 1 bestseller across the world. The series is currently in development with a major Hollywood production company.
Also by Lucinda Riley
Hothouse Flower
The Girl on the Cliff
The Light Behind the Window
The Midnight Rose
The Italian Girl
The Angel Tree
The Olive Tree
The Love Letter
The Butterfly Room
The Seven Sisters Series
The Seven Sisters
The Storm Sister
The Shadow Sister
The Pearl Sister
The Moon Sister
First published 2019 by Macmillan
This electronic edition first published 2019 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5098-4016-8
Copyright © Lucinda Riley 2019
Woman © Rekha Arcangel/Arcangel Images, Plane © Xinhua/Alamy, Grass © LDavies/Getty Images, Sky/trees © Shutterstock
The right of Lucinda Riley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters) Page 73