What are you reading, Ms Westpahl?
Christina Westphal joined the Max Delbrück Center in 2010 and has been part of the Animal Phenotyping Platform since 2017. Her reading tip takes us to Rio de Janeiro in the 1920s – to the time when the famous Christ the Redeemer statue was built on Corcovado Mountain.
I would like to recommend the book series “The Seven Sisters” by Lucinda Riley. As an introduction to the whole series, consisting of eight books, I recommend the first part “The Seven Sisters”:
Maia d'Aplièse is the eldest of six sisters. Adopted as babies by the mysterious Pa Salt, they all grew up in “Atlantis,” a mansion in the middle of Lake Geneva. After the sudden death of their father, each of the sisters receives a letter that allows them to explore their history.
Maia embarks on a journey to Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, she follows in the footsteps of Izabela Bonifacio, who lived there in the 1920s. With Maia, the reader is taken back to the creation of the famous statue Cristo Redentor. In addition to Maia's fictional story, we learn a lot about the history of Rio de Janeiro in the 20th century.
This pattern runs through all the books in the series. Each of the sisters, and thus the reader, is taken to different countries around the world. Throughout the books, the reader wonders who Pa Salt is, why he adopted the girls, and why they are called the SEVEN Sisters. You can't help but read on and on.
The best thing about this series: There are eight volumes with over 5,500 pages. A lot of reading material!
Lucinda Riley: The Seven Sisters. Atria Books, 2015.