Books | Lucinda Riley’s last thought was born in the boy’s hands: The pressure was too much to think about

Pair last year Harry Whittaker has held a great secret. First, he wrote one of the most internationally anticipated works of fiction without being able to talk about it with anyone but the publisher, and then there were the translations and the corrections that came to light with them – mega hits when published simultaneously in several languages.

On the desk was the mother of Whittaker, a bestselling author who died in 2021 by Lucinda Riley the work that ends the worldwide popularity Seven sisters series. Atlas by Papa Saltin the story will also be published in Finnish on Thursday.

Riley’s works and esp Seven sisters series have been hugely popular: the works have been translated into more than 40 languages ​​and have sold tens of millions worldwide. According to Bazar Kustannus, 1.1 million works have been sold in various formats in Finland, of which the sister series accounts for more than 800,000.

In the beginning enforced silence was not a problem. As an improvisational actor, radio journalist and children’s author, Whittaker didn’t even know at the time whether he could write a novel. It wasn’t until the last 200 pages – since the works in the series are 700–800 pages long – that things started to slip properly.

“The feeling was a bit like when you learn to ride a bike. You want to shout it from the rooftops and show your friends what you’ve just learned,” says Whittaker with a laugh in STT’s video interview from England.

The secret has been carefully guarded. Whittaker says that parts of the book were leaked onto the internet during the publication, which were cleverly removed. He does not reveal from whom and where the information came out, but according to him, it was about big companies and more likely negligence than intention.

Seven sisters – series was originally supposed to be a seven-part series, as the name suggests. The series is about daughters adopted from the world by a character named Papa Salt, and each book follows the story of one sister.

However, in the spring of 2021, before the release of the seventh volume, Riley announced that there will be eight books. He said he had started The lost sister intending to write to tell the stories of both the Merope sister and Papa Salt, but realized that cramming them into one work does not do them justice.

Soon The lost sister after the release, Riley died of a long-standing cancer. Finishing the last part of the series fell on Whittaker’s shoulders.

Jumping into much bigger boots for a writer is hard to imagine. During the writing phase, Whittaker says he avoided stress by thinking he was only writing for his mother, not her millions of readers.

“There was so much pressure that it was as if it wasn’t there at all. If I thought about it for more than ten seconds, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.”

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At the same time, the translators were an international team of fact-checkers.

Whittaker’s at least the pressure was not reduced by the fact that when announcing the eighth book, Riley apologized to the readers that the seventh book does not answer all their questions yet. So the last part of the series had many things to consider.

Whittaker’s help in building the story was a 30-page script of dialogue that Riley had written for the television series, when the company that acquired the rights to the books wanted to know where the story was going.

In addition, Whittaker estimates that he had more than a hundred conversations with his mother about the characters, structure and events during the writing of the series. That’s why he dares to promise that every riddle that puzzled the readers will be solved.

“That’s probably the thing I’m least excited about.”

If Harry Whittaker has been under pressure Atlas, the story of Papa Salt -book, speed has been required from the numerous translators of the new book. In Finland, the first six parts of the series have been translated into Finnish Hilkka Pekkanenand he has translated the seventh and eighth parts together Tuukka Pekkanen with.

Like Hilkka Pekkanen, many translators have been involved since the beginning of the series. For Whittaker, this was a stroke of luck, because even though he knows the stories inside out, it is impossible to remember all the details of a series of books that make sense. Therefore, the translators were also an international team of fact-checkers at the same time.

After sending the book off for translation, Whittaker thought he could relax. However, after about a week, questions and comments started to fall.

“For example, I had forgotten that Tiggy (Kuu’s sister) is vegan, and I wrote that she drinks coffee with cow’s milk, among other things. Then you had to find every place where he drank coffee or tea,” Whittaker says with a laugh.

Since the language versions are published at the same time, luckily for Whittaker, the errors were also corrected in the original text.

Next Whittaker plans to edit three of her mother’s works written as Lucinda Edmonds in the 1990s for republishing, and to write her own novel, which she describes as humorous contemporary literature.

He is not bothered by the fact that the future production might be compared to Lucinda Riley’s handprint. His novel will be so different that he thinks it will probably reach a completely different readership than Riley’s works.

Besides, Riley’s fans are in for another treat in addition to the re-edited books: Whittaker says that during May, it will be revealed which production company will film the television series about the seven sisters.

According to the contract, the production company, not Riley’s family, will inform about the matter, so he cannot sneak about the details in advance. That’s all he can say, that the company is big and world famous and that Riley himself was excited about the company and its approach.

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