The Storm Sister (The Seven Sisters #2) (80 page)
Read The Storm Sister (The Seven Sisters #2) Online
Authors: Lucinda Riley
The lights dimmed in the auditorium and I watched my sister rise from her seat on the stage. I could see the contours of the new life inside her clearly defined beneath the
black dress. Ally closed her eyes for a moment as if in prayer. When she finally lifted the flute to her lips, a hand reached for mine and squeezed it gently. And I knew Ma was feeling the
resonance too.
As the beautiful, familiar melody, which had been part of my and my sisters’ childhood at Atlantis, floated out across the hall, I felt some of the tension of the past few weeks flow out
of me with the swell of the music. As I listened, I knew that Ally was playing for all those she had loved and lost, but I understood too that just as the sun comes up after a long dark night,
there was new light in her life now. And as the orchestra joined her and the beautiful music reached a crescendo, celebrating the dawning of a new day, I felt the same.
Yet, in my
own
rebirth, others had suffered, and that was the part I had yet to rationalise. I’d only understood recently that there were many different kinds of love.
At the interval, Ma and I went to the bar, and Peter and Celia Falys-Kings, who introduced themselves as Theo’s parents, joined us for a glass of champagne. As I watched the way
Peter’s arm rested protectively on Celia’s waist, they looked like a young couple in love.
‘
Santé
,’ said Ma, as she chinked her glass against mine. ‘Isn’t this the most wonderful evening?’
‘Yes, it is,’ I replied.
‘Ally played so beautifully. I wish your other sisters could have been here to see her. And your father, of course.’
I watched Ma’s brow furrow in sudden concern and wondered what secrets she kept. And how heavily they weighed on her. As did mine.
‘CeCe couldn’t make it then?’ she asked me tentatively.
‘No.’
‘Have you seen her recently?’
‘I’m not at the apartment very often these days, Ma.’
She didn’t press me further on the subject. She knew not to.
A hand brushed my shoulder and I jumped. I’ve always been very sensitive to touch. Peter broke the pregnant pause, although I was used to those. ‘Hi, everyone.’ He turned to
Ma. ‘So, you’re the “mom” who cared for Ally during her childhood?’
‘Yes,’ she replied.
‘You did a wonderful job,’ he said.
‘That’s down to her, not me,’ Ma replied modestly. ‘All of my girls make me very proud.’
‘And you’re one of Ally’s famous sisters?’ Peter turned his gimlet eyes on me.
‘Yes.’
‘What’s your name?’
‘Star.’
‘And which number are you?’
‘Three.’
‘Interesting.’ He looked at me again. ‘I was number three as well. Never listened to and never heard. Yes?’
I didn’t reply.
‘Bet a lot goes on inside that head of yours, right?’ he continued. ‘It sure did in mine.’
Even if he was right, I wouldn’t tell him. So I shrugged silently instead.
‘Ally is a very special human being. We both learnt a lot from her,’ said Celia, giving me a warm smile as she changed the subject. I could tell she thought my silences meant I was
struggling with Peter, but I wasn’t. It was other people who found them difficult.
‘Yes, indeed. And now we’re to be grandparents. What a gift your sister has given us, Star,’ said Peter. ‘And this time, I’m going to be there for the little one.
Life is just too damned short, isn’t it?’
The two-minute bell rang, and everyone around me drained their glasses, however full they were. We all filed back into the auditorium to take our seats. Ally had already filled me in by email on
her discoveries in Norway. I studied Felix Halvorsen closely as he walked onto the stage, and decided that the genetic link to him had had little impact on Ally’s physical characteristics. I
also noticed his rolling gait as he walked towards the piano and wondered if he was drunk. I sent up a small prayer that he wasn’t. I knew from what Ally had said earlier how much this
evening meant to her and her newfound brother, Thom. I’d liked him immediately when I’d met him earlier.
As Felix lifted his fingers to the keys and then paused, I felt every member of the audience holding their breath with me. The tension was only broken as his fingers descended onto them and the
opening bars of
The Hero Concerto
were played in public for the first time. According to the programme, just over sixty-eight years after they had been written. For the following half an
hour, each one of us was treated to a performance of rarity and beauty, created by a perfect alchemy between composer and interpreter: father and son.
And as my heart took flight and soared upwards with the beautiful music, I saw a glimpse of the future. ‘Music is love in search of a voice.’ I quoted Tolstoy under my breath. Now, I
had to find
my
voice. And also the courage to speak out with it.
The applause was deservedly tumultuous, the audience on their feet, stamping and cheering. Felix took bow after bow, beckoning his son and his daughter out of the orchestra to join him, then
quietening the audience and dedicating his performance to his late father, and his children.
In this gesture, I saw living proof that it was possible to move on. And to make a change that others would eventually accept, however difficult.
As the audience began to rise from their seats, Ma touched my shoulder, saying something to me.
I nodded at her blankly, not taking in her words, and murmured that I’d see her in the foyer. And then I sat there. Alone. Thinking. As I did so, I was vaguely aware of the rest of the
audience walking up the aisle past me. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar figure.
As my heart began to pound, my body stood up of its own volition and I ran through the empty auditorium to the crowd milling around the back exits. I searched desperately for another glimpse,
begging that unmistakable profile to reappear to me amongst the milieu.
Pushing my way through the foyer, my legs carried me out into the freezing December air. I stood in the street, hoping for another sighting just to make sure, but I knew the figure had
disappeared.
I was only five when my father arrived back from his travels in Norway, bringing with him a long-playing record of Grieg’s
Peer Gynt
Suite. It really did become
the background music to my own childhood, as he eulogised about the beauty of the country, especially the magnificent fjords. He told me that if I ever got the chance in the future, I had to go and
see it for myself. Ironically, Norway was the first country that invited me to visit on a book tour. I remember sitting on the plane, my eyes brimming with tears, as I flew to what he had called
the top of the world. I felt – just like Ally – that I too was following my late father’s words. I have visited Norway numerous times since my initial journey there and, like my
father before me, I fell in love. So there was little question of where the second book in the Seven Sisters series would be set.
The Storm Sister
is based on real historical events and iconic Norwegian figures such as Edvard Grieg and Henrik Ibsen, although my portrayal of these characters’ personalities in
the book is down to my imagination, rather than actual fact. The book has required very extensive research, and I have had enormous help from many wonderful people. Some of those I met on my
research trip appear as themselves in the book and I thank them for allowing me to use their real names in the story.
My friends at Cappelen Damm, my fantastic publishing house, were instrumental in introducing me to the people I needed to speak to. So the first (and biggest) thank you goes to Knut
Gørvell, Jorid Mathiassen, Pip Hallen and Marianne Nielsen.
In Oslo:
Erik Edvardsen at the Ibsen Museum, who showed me the original photographs from the production of
Peer Gynt
and told me about Solveig’s
‘ghost voice’, whose real identity is still unknown to this day. This gave me the key to the ‘past’ story. The whole historical perspective of Norwegian life in the 1870s
came from Lars Roede at the Oslo Museum. The detailed understanding of traditional dress, names, transport links and customs of Norway in the 1870s, from Else Rosenqvist and Kari-Anne Pedersen at
the Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo. Also, Bjørg Larsen Rygh at Cappelen Damm (whose dissertation on drains and plumbing in Christiania in 1876 went above and beyond the call of duty!). Hilde
Stoklasa, from the Oslo Cruise Network, and a special thank-you to the staff at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, who fed and watered me at all times of the day and night as I wrote the first draft.
In Bergen:
I am indebted to John Rullestad, who introduced me to Erling Dahl, the ex-director of the Edvard Grieg Museum at Troldhaugen in Bergen. Erling is the
world’s foremost biographer of Grieg, and winner of the Grieg Prize. He and Sigurd Sandmo, the current director of the Grieg Museum, not only gave me extensive access to Grieg’s home (I
was actually allowed to sit at Grieg’s grand piano!) but also gave me a deep insight into Grieg’s life and personality. Erling also introduced me to Henning Målsnes at The Bergen
Philharmonic Orchestra, who explained the way an orchestra is managed on a day-to-day level, as well as the Orchestra’s wartime history. Also Mette Omvik, who gave me some great detail on Den
Nationale Scene theatre in Bergen.
Erling also enabled me to meet the renowned Norwegian composer Knut Vaage, who explained to me the process of orchestral composition with an historical perspective. My thanks also go to the
staff at the Hotel Havnekontoret in Bergen, who looked after me during my stay there.
In Leipzig
: Many thanks to Barbara Wiermann at the University of Music and Theatre, and to my lovely friend Caroline Schatke from Edition Peters in Leipzig, whose
father, Horst, brought us together under the most coincidental and poignant of circumstances.
I am not very nautical by nature so on all matters maritime I was helped extensively by David Beverley, and in Greece by Jovana Nikic and Kostas Gkekas from Sail in Greek
Waters. For their assistance with my research for the Fastnet Race, I’d like to thank the staff at both the Royal London Yacht Club and the Royal Ocean Racing Club in Cowes. Also, Lisa and
Manfred Rietzler, who took me out on their Sunseeker for the day and showed me what it could do.
I would also like to thank my fantastic PA, Olivia, and my hard-working editorial and research team of Susan Moss and Ella Micheler. All of whom have had to work very flexible hours as we juggle
with not only the Seven Sisters series, but also the rewriting and editing of my backlist books.
My thirty international publishers from around the world – particularly Catherine Richards and Jeremy Trevathan at Pan Macmillan UK, Claudia Negele and Georg Reuchlein at Random House
Germany, and Peter Borland and Judith Curr at Atria in the USA. They have all been so supportive and have embraced the challenges – and excitement – of a seven-book series.
My incredible family, who are so very patient as I currently spend my life permanently attached to a manuscript and a pen. Without Stephen (who also doubles as my agent), Harry, Bella, Leonora
and Kit, this writing journey would mean very little. My mother Janet, my sister Georgia, and Jacquelyn Heslop, and a very special mention to ‘Flo’, my faithful writing companion, who
we lost in February and still miss dreadfully. Also, Rita Kalagate, João de Deus and all my incredible friends at the Casa de Dom Inácio, in Abadiânia, Brazil.
And lastly, to YOU, the readers, whose love and support as I travel to the four corners of the earth and hear
your
stories, inspire and humble me. And make me realise that nothing I
could ever write can compete with the amazing and endlessly complex journey of being alive.
Lucinda Riley
June 2015
The Seven Sisters series is based on the legends of the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades star cluster, and is a huge project: seven books, six of them about each of the sisters
that Pa Salt has adopted from around the world and brought back to Atlantis – his fairytale home – nestling in a private peninsula on the shores of Lake Geneva.
So many of my readers have written to me with questions about the series, and possible answers to the unanswered mysteries that the first book in the series poses, that I
decided I should include a Q&A section in each book.
For me, the series is simply one huge story, which I'm chopping into seven parts, though each book is 'stand alone' and the story of each one of my very unique sisters can be
read in any order, as each book begins at the same moment in time. But underlying each story there is a hidden plot running throughout like a delicate thread, the full story of which will form the
basis of the seventh book...
The research for both the allegorical and historical elements of the plot has been a serious challenge and I hope the following Q&A explains a little of the background to
the series and my amazing Ally’s story. Yet, despite the ‘technical’ side of writing the plot and getting the fine detail right, as always,
The Storm Sister
is completely
holistically written and I have simply followed my characters’ lead. It’s an often moving and surprising journey for me as I’m writing, as I hope it has been for you, the
reader.
Please go to www.thesevensistersseries.com, where you can read more about the mythology and astronomy of the Seven Sisters constellation, together with more information on
Grieg and his masterful
Peer Gyntsuite
, the Leipzig Music Conservatory, the Fastnet race and the oldest orchestra in the world, the Bergen Philharmonic.
Finally, thank you so much for taking the time to read Ally’s story – I know it is long – but I can only end it when the characters tell me that their story
is over – for now...
Lucinda
1. What made you choose Norway and Grieg’s music for
Peer Gynt
as the backdrop for
The Storm Sister
?
I was only five when my father arrived back from his travels in Norway, bringing with him a long-playing record of Grieg’s
Peer Gynt
suite. It really did become
the background music to my own childhood, as he eulogized about the beauty of the country, especially the magnificent fjords. And told me that if I ever got the chance in the future, I had to go
and see them for myself. Ironically, just after my father died, Norway was the first country that invited me to visit on a book tour. I remember sitting on the plane, my eyes brimming with tears as
I flew to what he had called the top of the world. It felt that I too – just like Ally – was following my late father’s words. I have visited Norway numerous times since my
initial journey there, and, like my father before me, I fell in love too. So there was little question of where the second book in the Seven Sisters series would be set.
2. What kind of challenges did you face in writing the second instalment of a seven-book series? How was it different to writing the first book,
The Seven Sisters
?
It was only when I set to work on Ally’s story that I actually realized the challenge I’d set myself in writing such a vast, complex series. Apart from writing Maia
and Ally’s modern-day story, plus the huge amount of research on the historical sections of each book, I’ve had to make sure that the timeline fits accurately with the movements of the
previous sister’s book. For example, if Ally has had a conversation with any of her sisters at ‘Atlantis’, each location and the exact words spoken have to be double-checked for
timing and accuracy.
Never mind keeping tabs on the detail of the underlying ‘hidden’ plot that runs through the books . . . or the allegorical Greek references and anagrams that form the backdrop to the
series. It’s a little like playing on a Rubik’s Cube – one line fits, but then another falls out of place. This series has stretched me cerebrally as well as creatively. I want
each novel to be able to stand alone as well, so I’ve had to come up with interesting premises to explain the main plot line of Pa Salt adopting all the girls to new readers, without being
too repetitive for those who have read the previous sister’s stories.
3. How did you approach the task of researching the historical events and iconic cultural figures from Norway that are featured in
The Storm Sister
?
The Storm Sister
is based on real historic figures, such as Edvard Grieg and Henrik Ibsen, although my portrayal of these characters’ personalities in the books
is purely down to my imagination, rather than actual fact. My fictional characters – in this case, Anna and Jens – are woven into the factual truth of real-life events.
My friends at Cappelen Damm, my publishing house, were instrumental in introducing me to the people I needed to speak to. And in fact, a lot of Ally’s fictional quest to discover her past
was based on my own Norwegian journey as I searched to uncover the story of Peer Gynt and Grieg himself. Some of those I met on my research trip appear as themselves in the book and I thank them
for allowing me to use their real names in the story.
Erik Edvardson at the Ibsen Museum was my first port of call. It was he who told me that Ibsen had asked Grieg to write the incidental music for his poem and showed me the original photographs
from the production of
Peer Gynt
. Then he told me about Solveig’s ‘ghost voice’, whose real identity is still unknown to this day. This gave me the key to the
‘past’ story. The whole historical perspective of Norwegian life in the 1870s came from Lars Roede at the Oslo Museum.
I went twice to Bergen, and visited the Grieg Museum at Troldhaugen – Grieg’s former home – and was actually allowed to sit at Grieg’s grand piano! As always when
describing real historical people, I try my best to do them justice, especially with someone as meaningful to Norway and the wider world as Edvard Grieg. In Bergen, I had the great pleasure of
spending time with Professor Erling Dahl, the foremost expert on Grieg and recipient of the Grieg prize – who showed me around the Edvard Grieg Museum in Troldhaugen. I read as much as I
could about Grieg and his contemporaries – and I pored over the details of the original production of Peer Gynt. Luckily, he was a prolific diarist and correspondent and there’s nothing
better than reading the words that those historical figures have actually written. It’s the best insight you can get. And I always have to remember I’m a storyteller first, not an
historian. I also met Henning Malsnes at the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, who explained the way an orchestra is managed on a day-to-day level, as well as the orchestra’s wartime history.
And the renowned Norwegian composer Knut Vaage, who explained to me the process of orchestral composition with a historical perspective.
4. Now on the second instalment of the series, has your overall plan for the ending changed or do you still have a clear end in sight?
The ending has been planned from the start. The secrets that will eventually come to light are all in my head. This hidden plot line goes right through the series like an
invisible thread, and I have to ensure this is subtle and consistent through all the books. Only my husband knows the plot of the last book, though recently he said he’s forgotten it already
. . . !
5. We not only see Norway, but we are also taken to the musical city of Leipzig in Germany. Did you travel there for research too?
Yes. It’s a beautiful city, on its way to being restored to its former glory. Germany is one of my favourite countries, and I have travelled there often to meet my
readers. And of course, Grieg studied there for three years and Edition Peters, his music publisher – run at the time by a close friend called Max Abrahams – is still based there. I
often find I have strange coincidental experiences when I’m writing. Caroline Schatke, an old friend, contacted me to say she had just moved from Cambridge University to work for a company in
Leipzig called Edition Peters. She emailed me to say she was currently sitting in the very building I was actually writing about at the time. This company has been the publisher of Edvard
Grieg’s music since it was written over a hundred years ago.
6. You touch upon the horrors of World War II in this book, as you have done in previous books. Why do you feel it is such an important subject to explore in your writing?
The Second World War happened less than eighty years ago. Most people today have past relatives who were affected by it in some way. It is a dreadful rupture in our world
history, and affects any novel set in any country between 1938 and 1945. I researched the history of Leipzig and the plight of its Jewish population, and I felt that the destruction of the statue
of Felix Mendelssohn marked a pivotal moment, a ‘point of no return’ for the city. Learning about what happened in Norway was also eye-opening, as it is a theatre of war that often
isn’t taught in history classes.
7. Have you always had an interest in classical music? And how has this shaped your descriptions in the novel?
I trained as a ballet dancer from the age of three to sixteen, so I have grown up with classical music all my life. Grieg’s
Peer Gynt
suite has always been one
of my favourites – both ‘Morning Mood’ and ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ are such iconic pieces of music. Everyone would recognize it if they heard it, it has
become so ingrained in popular culture, having been used (and abused) in so many TV programmes, films, television commercials and even at theme parks.
8. What’s your best memory of Norway? Did you discover anything that made you change your initial plan for the book?
I absolutely loved travelling up to Trondheim and seeing the fjords and the snow-capped mountains beneath me from the aeroplane. My aim is to take a Hutigruten cruise through
them one day when I have time. But most of all, it was the people I met there. They were so warm and welcoming and it is always a pleasure to go back.
9. How does Ally match up to her mythological counterpart? What aspects of her did you modernize?
In Greek mythology, Alcyone, the second sister, was known as ‘the Leader’ and her star is one of the brightest in the cluster. During the ‘Halcyon
days’, when the world was filled with joy, prosperity and tranquillity, her Greek namesake watched over the Mediterranean Sea, making it calm and safe for sailors. To reflect this for a
modern audience, I made Ally a brave, strong woman who knows her mind and is a natural leader. She loves the sea and makes her mark as a sailor, but she also falls deeply in love with Theo
Falys-Kings – which is an anagram of Asterope’s Greek mythological lover, the King of Thessaly.The ‘Evil Eye’ necklace that Theo buys for her is a symbol of her being a
protector of sailors. And it is when she has a forced separation from her love that her story leads to tragedy, just as in the Greek myth.
10. In this book, we find out a little bit more about the mysterious Pa Salt. Has it been a challenge to keep the secret about the ending, and what have you made of your fans’
speculations on #WhoIsPaSalt?
I enjoy reading the different theories that readers come up with, and sometimes have a quiet giggle at them. I’m thrilled that my readers have been so captivated by the
series and have been speculating so much on social media. Of course, nobody knows the truth except me (and my husband if he can ever remember it), and it hasn’t been a challenge at all to
keep it a secret – it’s been great fun.
11. At the end of
The Storm Sister
, we catch a glimpse into the perspective of Star, the third sister. Can you give us a hint as to what her journey will contain?
Star is a fascinating, enigmatic character, and I’m enjoying delving further into her perspective. I am still writing her story, and it’s set in England. It’s been
a change to explore my own country’s history and its various landscapes. And it’s meant I could write from home, as I always have to live for a while in the country I’m writing about.
Star’s story will take us from the wilds of Cumbria and the raw beauty of the Lake District to the excesses and social whirl of Edwardian London.
12. What would you like readers to take away from
The Storm Sister
?
I would like my readers to be inspired by Ally’s strength and positivity. Ally goes through so much in
The Storm Sister
. I can’t tell you how much I cried
writing the Fastnet race scenes and especially Theo’s memorial service. Ally is an incredibly determined woman, and despite the amount of grief she endures, she manages to find a new source
of creativity, a new home and a new family in which she can raise her and Theo’s child. Just as Pa Salt’s last words to her predicted that, ‘In moments of weakness, you will find
your greatest strength’, I hope this is true for all of us.
Please see www.thesevensistersseries.com for more background to the series and the historical and mythological references used in each book.