Lucinda Riley was born in 1965 in Ireland and, after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first novel aged twenty-four. The Seven Sisters series specifically has become a global phenomenon, creating its own genre, and there are plans to create a multi-season TV series. In collaboration with her son Harry Whittaker, she also devised and wrote a series of books for children called The Guardian Angels. Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died on 11 June 2021, surrounded by her family.