IN CONVERSATION WITH Lucinda RILEY

Gazing up at the night sky in Norfolk inspired a whole new world for Seven Sisters novelist Lucinda Riley

Irish-born Lucinda Riley is the bestselling author of many successful stand-alone novels, but it is the Seven Sisters series that became her magnum opus. Based on the legends surrounding the Seven Sisters star cluster, we follow the journey of each adopted sister as they visit their past. In her new novel, The Missing Sister, we finally get to meet the last sister.

Lucinda lives with her husband, Stephen, in Norfolk and West Cork. They have seven children between them, a Labrador named Maia and two cats, Murphy and Tiggy.

As a novelist, I’ve spent the past 28 years in lockdown of sorts because of the way I write – which is in a solitary state wherever in the world I am researching. So, it has been interesting. I have a large family, and when they announced the first lockdown, I already had two of my children at home, and the rest flew home immediately. We moved house the week before lockdown was announced, so it’s been busy, but I look at it in a positive light. It’s like borrowed time – extra time with the children. I always say to my husband, ‘Tomorrow will be quiet,’ but it tends to end up busier.

I studied classical dancing as a child, but unfortunately I have the constitution of a lamb rather than an ox. One of my knees gave out at 16. My mum was an actor and I just happened to be at a ballet school where directors scouted for young actors. I got to play one of the lead roles in a BBC1 TV series, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, and later Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, so it was quite a smooth transition from letting go of my dreams of dancing to becoming an actor. It wasn’t until I contracted Epsteinbarr virus that I found myself bedridden and wrote my first book, Lovers & Players.

‘I’m the first to laugh or cry at what the sisters do’

The idea of The Seven Sisters came to me rather unromantically, standing outside the back door of our home in Norfolk. It was that time

between Christmas and New Year when I still had all the family staying with me. I went outside to get some air. As I stood there, looking up into the sky and thinking about whether to cook turkey again or spaghetti bolognese, I looked up at the Seven Sisters, as I often did. I knew at some point I wanted to write a series, and it was then I had this light-bulb moment. I rushed into everyone and sat in front of the fire with the family gathered around me, and I told them about it. I knew I’d found my inspiration.

I then read more about the Seven Sisters. They are in every mythology in every single country. I followed the Greek mythology. There are so many anagrams through my books, which allude to the mythology and history. I would always urge my readers to go back and read the stories again for more historical detail and clues.

I tell my Dictaphone everything first. It’s just the two of us. The sisters fill up my world for the three to four months of writing, and I work 24/7 just to get that initial story plot and characters down. I am so emotionally involved. I’m the first person to laugh and cry at what the sisters do. And before I start writing the stories, I have gone on their journeys, researching in their stead. I have stepped where Ally went in Norway, I have been to Granada where Tiggy visited. This last book, The Missing Sister, is perfectly set mainly in my valley, in Ireland.

I thought I knew about Irish history. But, as I began researching this last book, I realised what I knew was full of holes. Fortunately, my fantastic West Cork community helped me through. There’s nothing like speaking to the people who live where you’re writing about. A lot of history is subjective and based on memory. With this book, in particular, I had to get the research right and make it locally accurate.

‘History is interesting when you turn it into a story’

History has always been my passion since I was a little girl. If I wasn’t a novelist I would be in the bowels of

The British Library, surrounded by dusty history books. The way the subject is sometimes taught can put students off – you’re just given a lot of dates. In historical fiction, you’re not patronised but you learn through the characters. Like osmosis, it makes history interesting by turning it into a story.

To choose one of the sisters is like choosing between my children, but…like when you have a new baby, they take up a lot of your life for a while and I guess that’s the missing sister for me at the moment. If I was to be one of the sisters, I would probably be a mix between Ally and Tiggy. Someone did my chart once and said

I’d always be torn between the two sides of my life because I was born on a full moon at an eclipse. I am quite needy domestically, and want that grounding of my family. But the other half of me is creative, spiritual and free, believing in another level to life.

You’re only as good as your next book, so it’s terrifying starting a new one. But this time I felt real pressure, as readers seem to be very excited about meeting the last sister. These books have become my life and the sisters have become my imaginary sisters.

I have written a children’s book with my son, Harry. When the children were younger and about to encounter a scary situation, I’d send them off with a guardian angel, someone to look over them when I couldn’t – the Tiggy side of me. It’s now going to be a series, illustrated by the talented Jane Ray. We’re all excited about it. The first one is called Grace and the Christmas Angel, and is out in October.

And in other news… It looks like The Seven Sisters will soon be made into a TV series. I can hardly believe it!

✢ The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley is out on 27 May (£20, HB, Pan Macmillan).