Lucinda Riley

Lucinda Riley was an Irish author, born on February 14, 1971, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. She was born to an actress mother and a father who worked as a director for Cortaulds, a United Kingdom based textile company. After a brief career as an actress in film, theatre, and television, Riley wrote her first book at the age of twenty-four.

Riley was a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author, known for her historical and general fiction novels. Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold over thirty million copies worldwide. She gained significant recognition for her Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is inspired by the mythology of the famous star cluster. The series has become a global phenomenon, selling over fifteen million copies worldwide and sparking plans for a seven-season TV series.

Riley spent her time between Norfolk, England, and the South of France. She was married and had four children. In addition to her Seven Sisters series, Riley's works have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Italian Bancarella prize, The Lovely Books award in Germany, and the Romantic Novel of the Year award. In collaboration with her son Harry Whittaker, she also devised and wrote a series of books for children called ‘The Guardian Angels’ series.

In 2015, Riley fulfilled her dream of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home. However, she was diagnosed with cancer in 2017, and passed away on June 11th, 2021, surrounded by her family. Despite her passing, Riley's works continue to resonate with readers worldwide and have left a lasting impact on the literary world.