The Seven Sisters

Written by Lucinda Riley in 2014, The Seven Sisters is a historical romance novel. The novel features dual timelines; the first takes place in 1927, and the other takes place in 2007. The protagonist of the 1927 timeline is an 18-year-old Brazilian woman named Izabela Rosa “Bel” Bonifacio. Bel lives in Rio de Janeiro with her parents. Her story is interwoven with the construction of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue. The protagonist of the 2007 timeline is Maia D’Aplièse, a literary translator who lives in Switzerland with her father. The novel explores The Past’s Influence on the Present and The Power and Limitations of Family. Self-Discovery Through Personal and Bodily Autonomy and The Danger of Being Guided by Fear are also prominent themes.

The Seven Sisters is the first novel in the eight-book Seven Sisters series. The title of the series, like the names of Maia and her sisters, is inspired by the mythology of the Pleiades constellation (also known as the Seven Sisters constellation). This first book in the series is dedicated to Maia’s story, as she is the eldest of the six adopted sisters.

This guide refers to the 2015 Atria paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, illness, mental illness, death by suicide, sexual violence, gender discrimination, substance use, and sexual content.

Plot Summary

In 2007, a young woman named Maia D’Aplièse is on vacation when she receives word that her adoptive father has died. Maia rushes home to the mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva where she lives with her father. Upon arriving home, Maia is told that her father has already been buried at sea, according to his wishes. Maia awaits the arrival of her five younger sisters—all adopted—before the reading of her father’s will.

Her father, whom the sisters call Pa Salt, was a mysterious and secretive figure. Thus, his will and bequests are unconventional. His lawyer arrives at the house with an armillary sphere that Pa had customized for his daughters. On the sphere, each daughter’s name is accompanied by a quotation and a set of coordinates. The quotations are bits of advice. Maia’s says, “Never let fear decide your destiny” (56). The coordinates point to a clue about each daughter’s birthplace. Maia’s coordinates are to a historic mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pa has also left her a letter. Enclosed with the letter is another clue to her past, a small triangular tile with an illegible inscription on the back.

Maia spontaneously decides to go to Brazil to investigate these clues. She is motivated by a desire to avoid an encounter with her ex-boyfriend, Zed. She has not seen Zed in 14 years; their relationship resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. Maia put her baby up for adoption just after he was born, a decision that she is ashamed of now.

Shortly after arriving in Brazil, Maia meets Floriano Quintela. Floriano is a novelist whose novel Maia recently translated from Portuguese to French. Floriano is also a historian. With his help, Maia learns that the tile she received from Pa Salt is one of the tiles used to construct the robe for Rio’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue. She also learns that she is likely related to an old aristocratic family in the city, the Aires Cabral family. The house indicated by Pa Salt’s coordinates is a now-shabby mansion belonging to that family. When Maia visits to ask questions, she meets an elderly woman. This woman, Beatriz, is Maia’s grandmother, although she won’t admit it and refuses to speak with Maia. Beatriz’s maid, Yara, recognizes the necklace that Maia wears—an heirloom also given to Pa because of its ties to her birth family—and gives Maia a bundle of old letters. These letters were written by Izabela Rosa “Bel” Bonifacio.

At this point, the narrative shifts to Bel’s timeline in 1927 Rio de Janeiro. Bel (Maia’s great-grandmother) is a beautiful 18-year-old woman. Bel’s wealthy and socially ambitious father pressures her to become engaged to a man she doesn’t love because he is a member of the aristocracy. This man is named Gustavo Aires Cabral. Izabela agrees to the engagement but asks to be allowed to travel to Europe with some family friends before she is wed. Her friend Maria Elisa is the daughter of Heitor de Silva Costa, who is in charge of the construction of Christ the Redeemer. Heitor is traveling to Europe to hire a sculptor and conduct some other research on possible architectural solutions for the statue. Gustavo and Bel’s father agree to allow her to travel to Europe. While in Europe, Bel writes letters home to her maid and friend, Loen. Loen keeps these letters, which eventually fall into Maia’s hands in 2007.

In Paris, passionate and adventurous Bel is introduced to free-thinking artistic communities with cultures very different from the structured and proper society of upper-class Rio de Janeiro. Bel still has many rules governing where she is allowed to go, but she experiences more freedom abroad than she did at home. She thrives amid this freedom, attending art classes and lunching in bohemian cafes with her new friends. Through Heitor, Bel is introduced to Paul Landowski, the sculptor who will create Christ the Redeemer’s head and hands. She also meets Paul’s assistant, Laurent Brouilly. Bel is immediately taken by Laurent’s charm, talent, and good looks. Laurent persuades Paul to permit him to make a sculpture of Bel, and Bel and Laurent spend many hours together while he sculpts her. The sculpture captures her rare beauty, depicting her as a thoughtful and melancholy young woman.

Laurent and Bel develop feelings for each other but do not act on them until one night when Bel finds a starving, injured child sleeping on the street outside the sculpting studio. She insists that they help him. Laurent complies and is further enamored of her kindness. They kiss for the first time that night but do not take their physical relationship further; it is too risky for Bel not to remain chaste ahead of her wedding to Gustavo. The child is taken in by the Landowski family. He will grow up to become Pa Salt.

Bel, broken-hearted to leave Laurent, returns to Rio de Janeiro as planned and marries Gustavo. Upon returning home, she learns that her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer while Bel was in Europe and is still recovering from the resulting surgery. Bel and her mother spend some time at their country home to aid her recovery. After Bel and Gustavo are married, they take a one-week honeymoon. Bel is frightened and upset to realize that physical intimacy with her husband does not bring her pleasure and sometimes causes her pain because he is rough and urgent.

While Bel is on her honeymoon, Laurent arrives in Rio de Janeiro, having accompanied the Cristo’s (Christ the Redeemer’s) head and hands on their transatlantic voyage. Gustavo inadvertently reintroduces Laurent and Bel by buying the sculpture of Bel as a wedding gift and inviting Laurent to dinner. Bel and Laurent start a passionate affair, but then Bel’s mother falls ill again. This time, her cancer has spread, and there is nothing to be done. She and Bel retreat to their country home. While Bel is away, she and Laurent exchange romantic letters. When Bel’s mother dies, Gustavo and his mother, Louiza, are cold and uncaring in response to Bel’s grief.

While Bel is away, the global economy takes a sharp downward turn. This is the beginning of the Great Depression. Bel’s father is bankrupted overnight, but Gustavo and his father offer their assistance so that he can find stable work. Meanwhile, Bel becomes pregnant and knows beyond a doubt that Laurent is the father. She tells him, and he wants her to run away to Paris with him. Bel longs to leave with Laurent but decides to stay for her father’s sake and to provide the baby with a more stable upbringing, as Laurent is a penniless artist. However, just as Bel is ending her affair with Laurent, Gustavo finds out about it. He decides to keep the knowledge to himself because Bel is pregnant and staying with him. They raise the child, Beatriz, as their daughter, and Bel never finds out that Gustavo knows her secret. Bel dies only two years later, just after the inauguration of the Christ the Redeemer statue.

In 2007, Maia and Floriano read Bel’s letters to Loen and conduct other investigations into public records. They learn that Laurent was in Rio and gradually put the pieces of the story together. In the end, both Yara and Beatriz agree to speak with Maia, finally filling in the gaps in the story. Maia’s mother (Beatriz’s daughter) was named Cristina. She had a falling out with her family after she started to use drugs. Cristina put Maia up for adoption without Beatriz knowing.

Over the course of their time together in Rio, Maia and Floriano fall in love. They travel to Paris together for Floriano’s book launch and then to Switzerland to see Maia’s childhood home. At the end of the novel, Maia returns to Rio to be with Floriano and his daughter.