The Seven Sisters

Ma looks tired and sad. Maia asks why she didn’t call her as soon as Pa Salt had his heart attack, and she says that Pa had instructed her not to. Pa also requested to be buried at sea, privately and without his daughters present. Maia is shocked to hear that her father’s body has already been laid to rest. Feeling excluded, she experiences a brief surge of anger at her father, who insisted on control and privacy even after his death. She also learns that Pa made arrangements with his lawyer, Georg Hoffman, before his death. The lawyer will come to the house as soon as all the sisters have arrived.

Before retiring to her current home—a guesthouse on Pa Salt’s property that the family calls the Pavilion—Maia visits her childhood bedroom in the main house. There, she retrieves a moonstone necklace that Pa gave her for her 16th birthday. She puts on the necklace, which she has never worn before; it was too adult for her when she received it as a teenager. She recalls that Pa mentioned that the necklace had an interesting story, but he never told her what it was.

Tiggy calls in the middle of the night from a remote area in Scotland where she works for a wildlife rescue organization. Reassuring Maia that “no spirit dies, they just move on to another plane” (19), Tiggy plans to fly to Geneva the next day.

Maia lies awake after the call, wishing she shared her younger sister’s spiritual beliefs. An event from her past caused her to lose her spirituality and retreat from her emotions. (It is later revealed that this traumatic event was an unintended pregnancy that Maia experienced in college. Heartbroken from a recent breakup with her college boyfriend, Zed Eszu, Maia put her baby up for adoption. Ma helped her make the arrangements, keeping it secret from the rest of the family. At the end of the novel, Maia will realize that Pa Salt knew about the child.)

Maia knows that she used Pa Salt’s age as an excuse to stay at home with him even after all her other sisters had moved away. As she lies awake, she reflects on how her career choice—translating novels from Russian and Portuguese into French—has further facilitated her hiding from the world. She is passionate about her work, however, and fondly recalls a conversation with Pa during which he encouraged her to study Portuguese.

Maia sleeps late after her restless night. Tiggy, CeCe, Star, and Electra are all on their way home. No one has been able to get in touch with Ally yet.

Maia spends a restless day waiting for her sisters to arrive at Atlantis. Tiggy arrives in the afternoon, and Maia explains that Ma was with Pa Salt when he died and that he has already been discretely buried at sea, according to his wishes. Tiggy is calm and, although grieving, is happy that her final memory of their father is from while he was healthy. Tiggy tells Maia that her life is going well and that she loves living in Scotland and working with the wildlife rescue.

Star and CeCe arrive later that same evening. Maia repeats her explanation of Pa Salt’s death and burial. CeCe unnerves both Star and Maia by demanding particular details; she wants to know who “actually put Pa over the side of the boat” and where exactly his body was dropped into the sea (30). CeCe and Star are planning to move to London—CeCe, a sculptor and artist, has been offered a place at the Royal College of Art. Maia is struck by CeCe’s domineering presence, which seems exaggerated in this time of grief. Star’s shyness and quietness likewise strike Maia more than they usually do.

Maia waits up for Electra’s late-night arrival. Maia is disturbed to find the door to Pa Salt’s study locked for the first time in her memory. She had hoped to find comfort in looking at Pa’s collection of souvenirs from his travels, a collection that was always displayed on the shelves near his desk.

Still awaiting Electra’s arrival, Maia turns on the news; the body of a wealthy man named Kreeg Eszu has been found washed up on the beach of a Greek island. Kreeg had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer and decided to die by suicide. This story unsettles Maia because her own father has just been buried at sea and because Kreeg was the father of Maia’s college boyfriend, Zed.

When Electra arrives, she is as tempestuous as ever. Maia invites Electra to spend the night in the pavilion rather than disturbing everyone in the main house. Electra, over six feet tall and elegantly beautiful, weeps openly as she and Maia discuss Pa Salt’s death. Electra is the most upset of any of the sisters about the lack of a funeral for Pa; she fears that they won’t be able to have closure without the ceremony.

The following morning, there is still no word from Ally. Maia asks Ma why Pa Salt’s study is locked and discovers that it was locked at Pa’s request just before his death. Maia finds Star sitting on the boat dock by herself. They share a rare private moment—usually, CeCe is at Star’s side. CeCe interrupts their conversation, and Maia returns to the pavilion to check on Electra. Electra, who works as a model and lives in Hollywood with her pop-star boyfriend, is on a strict diet and teases Maia about the food options in her fridge.

Needing a break from her sisters, Maia checks her email and is pleased to find a note from the Brazilian author Floriano Quintelas, whose novel she just translated from Portuguese into French. Floriano is writing to let Maia know that he will be in Paris for a book launch party, and he invites her to join him. The two have never met in person, although they corresponded while Maia was working on the translation.

Ally surprises everyone by arriving unannounced at Atlantis. She explains that she was sailing with a friend off the coast of Greece. When they heard that Pa Salt’s boat, Titan, was spotted in the area, they decided to seek him out. They caught up to Pa’s boat, but the Titan sailed away before they could make contact. The next day, Ally was back into cell-phone range and had a voicemail from CeCe telling her that Pa was dead. The sisters realize that Ally must have spotted the Titan as Pa was being buried at sea. Ma calls the lawyer, Georg Hoffman, informing him that all the sisters are now gathered at Atlantis.

Plans are made for the lawyer to arrive around sunset. Maia drifts to sleep while reading the first chapters of Floriano’s new novel. Ally wakes her from her nap. She has more unnerving news for Maia: After Pa Salt’s boat sailed away, Ally saw another boat anchored in the area. This boat was the Olympus and belonged to Kreeg Eszu. Maia is shocked but assumes that it is only a strange coincidence. During their conversation, Ally echoes the guilt and doubt that Maia herself has been feeling. They both feel guilty that they weren’t around while Pa was dying and doubt how much they knew him. The sisters feel the weight of all the questions they never asked their adoptive father while he was alive.

When Georg arrives, he and Ma first meet in private, following directions they received from Pa Salt. The sisters gather on the terrace. When the lawyer joins them, Maia notices his elegant, immaculate suit and his reserved, thoughtful demeanor. He gives his condolences and then shares the details of Pa Salt’s will. Pa has provided for all his daughters financially but did not leave them unfettered access to his great wealth, not wanting them to “live like lazy princesses” (50). Georg tells them that Atlantis has been left in trust to all of them so that they will all have access to the home for their whole lives. Ma and the housekeeper, Claudia, will stay on to care for the property. Pa gave Georg the discretion to offer further financial assistance to each of the sisters if and when they need it.

Next, Georg leads them all to a small garden at the side of the house where a new sculpture has been placed. The sculpture is an armillary sphere, a framework of rings surrounding a sphere that represents the Earth. The rings depict different latitudinal and longitudinal lines. Each of the sisters’ names is engraved on one of the bands, followed by a set of coordinates and a quotation in Greek. The sisters are confused about the meaning behind the sculpture.

Georg hands each sister a sealed letter written from Pa about six weeks prior. The sisters all agree that they’d like to read their letters in private. They share a quiet dinner and then go to bed. After dark, Maia takes a flashlight to the armillary sphere and transcribes the quotations so that she can translate them from Greek. While she is analyzing the sphere, she sees that there is a band that is blank aside from the name “Merope,” the name of their nonexistent or unknown seventh sister.

Maia’s quotation from the armillary sphere reads, “Never let your fear decide your destiny” (56). The next morning, Maia reads her letter from Pa Salt. Pa expresses his love for his eldest daughter and then tells her that he wants to give her the freedom to discover where she was born if she wants to. He confirms that the coordinates on the armillary sphere are a clue to her heritage. He also encloses another clue in the letter’s envelope: a small, triangular tile with an illegible inscription on the back.

There are a few lines in Pa Salt’s letter that make Maia suspect that he knew that she secretly put a child up for adoption. Distressed, she confronts Ma. Ma insists that she never told Pa, telling Maia that she is reading too much into lines that were only meant to express Pa’s love for her. Maia apologizes for suspecting Ma, but after reading the letter and having her emotional conversation with Ma, she is overwhelmed with regret and sadness; she feels that she let Pa down by not trusting him with her secret. She is also feeling the loss of the child she put up for adoption, a loss that she struggles with daily even 14 years later. Tiggy finds Maia crying. Maia apologizes for showing so much emotion. Tiggy assures her that there is nothing to apologize for. The two of them discuss the nature of grief; Maia feels guilty because her grief is about herself rather than about Pa’s pain or his life cut short. Tiggy claims that all grief is about the people left behind.

CeCe and Star go to Geneva to speak with Georg, requesting money to finance their move to London and a place to live there. The two depart for London later that day. Before they leave, CeCe expresses her fear about opening Pa Salt’s letter, feeling insecure about his affection for her.

Ally and Maia discuss their letters from Pa. Ally looked up everyone’s coordinates, so she now knows where in the world all the sisters were born. Maia doesn’t feel ready to hear her birthplace and plans to look it up herself later on. After all her sisters have departed, Maia looks up her coordinates. They point to an address in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Maia is not surprised that her coordinates point to a location in Brazil; with her complexion and her skill in Portuguese, she feels as if her body knew this truth all along. She is surprised that the coordinates, when entered into Google Earth, show a grand house. She wonders why she was put up for adoption if she was potentially born into a wealthy home. As Maia sips her morning tea, she toys with the idea of hopping on a plane to Brazil. Such impulsive actions are not like her, and she brushes the idea away.

The day after her sisters depart, Maia receives a voicemail from Zed. He is traveling to Geneva in the wake of his father’s death and, having heard of Pa Salt’s death, wonders if Maia might like to meet up. Maia panics at the sound of his voice and experiences utter terror when she realizes that he could very well show up at her door. She decides to leave home to avoid the possibility. She briefly considers visiting one of her sisters but doesn’t find the concept appealing. Making a spur-of-the-moment decision, she opts to go to Brazil.

Upon arrival in Brazil, Maia impresses her cab driver by speaking fluent Portuguese. Once she tells him that she was born in Rio de Janeiro, he tells her that she looks Brazilian but that her French name misled him. On the drive to her hotel, he points out the impressive Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) statue atop Corcovado Mountain overlooking the city.

Maia’s hotel is across the street from Ipanema Beach. She takes a nap. Later that day, Maia asks the same cab driver to take her to the address given by the coordinates from Pa Salt. The driver is familiar with the house, Casa das OrquÍdeas, located in a historic neighborhood that used to house many of the city’s affluent families. A privacy hedge prevents Maia from seeing much of the house from the street, so she gets out of the car and walks up the driveway.

It is clear to Maia that the house was formerly grand, although it has fallen into disrepair. Maia knocks on the door, but no one responds. Before leaving, she looks around the side of the house, where she discovers a large garden. In the garden is a sculpture of a beautiful young girl.

There is an old woman (later revealed to be Beatriz Carvalho, Maia’s grandmother) sitting in the garden. While Maia is deciding whether or not to approach the old woman, who appears to be sleeping, she meets Yara, Beatriz’s maid. Maia tells them that she thinks she may have been born in their house. Beatriz deflects, telling her that no babies have been born in that house for more than 50 years. (It will later be revealed that she is telling the truth; Maia’s mother was the last child born in the house, as Maia was born in the slums after her mother ran away from home). Beatriz shuts down any further questions from Maia.

Maia feels defeated. She is confident that Pa Salt’s coordinates were accurate and that she does have some family tie to Beatriz Carvalho, yet she cannot think of how to learn any more, given Beatriz’s adamant resistance to her questions. Maia’s other clue—the small tile with the illegible inscription—also leaves her feeling like she’s at a dead end.

Maia receives an email from the Brazilian publisher for whom she works as a translator. She had sent the company a note explaining that she was visiting Brazil. The response is warm and welcoming, yet the publisher’s main offices are in Sao Paulo (rather than Rio de Janeiro), so the company has forwarded her note to the author Floriano Quintelas, who lives in Rio. The kind note from the publisher lifts Maia’s spirits. She decides to spend at least a few days getting to know the city of her birth, even if she doesn’t think she will learn any more about her birth family. Walking on the beach, Maia feels a strong sense of connection to Rio, even though she has no memories of the city.

After her morning walk in the city, Maia receives an email from Floriano. He expresses interest in meeting up with her. His frank yet friendly tone helps Maia overcome her innate shyness. She works up the nerve to send him a text, letting him know that she’s going to see the Christ the Redeemer statue that afternoon. Floriano calls and asks to join her. They plan to meet at the train station at the top of the mountain on which the statue stands.

Maia climbs the many stairs that approach the base of the statue. She’s surprised to see that Floriano is already there waiting for her. Floriano, who is a historian in addition to being a novelist, sometimes gives history tours around the city and happened to be giving a tour that morning. He gives Maia a tour around the Cristo statue, sharing stories about its construction. He tells Maia about the small soapstone tiles that comprise the statue’s robe and explains how women residents of the city were recruited to adhere the tiles to aid in the construction. Many of these women, Floriano says, wrote the names of their loved ones on the tiles so that their prayers would be affixed permanently to the statue. Maia immediately connects this story with the tile that Pa Salt bequeathed her. Floriano notices her reaction, but Maia hesitates to tell him the story, instead simply replying that it is “very complicated.” He infers that this complicated story is part of what led her to visit Rio.

Maia and Floriano go out to lunch. She shows him the tile and tells him how she got it. Floriano is familiar with the aristocratic Aires Cabral family, who lived for many generations in the Casa das OrquÍdeas. He encourages Maia to investigate further, using tools like marriage and birth records to trace the family lineage and uncover her possible connection to them. He urges Maia not to be defeatist or afraid. Floriano also offers his help; he has connections with historical researchers at the national museum and library in Rio. Maia hesitates, not wanting to be a burden. Floriano is persistent, reminding Maia that these are the kinds of mysteries that historians love. They make plans to meet again that evening.

That evening, Floriano shows Maia the birth, marriage, and death records for the Aires Cabral family. A baby named Beatriz was born in 1930 to parents Gustavo Aires Cabral and Izabela Bonifacio. Floriano and Maia deduce that this Beatriz is the old woman whom Maia met in the garden at Casa das OrquÍdeas. They also confirm that Beatriz married—thus, her last name changed to Carvalho—before she had a daughter in 1956, named Cristina. Maia and Floriano suspect that Cristina may be Maia’s mother.

Floriano has also begun investigating the faded inscription on the tile. He dropped the tile off with a friend who works at a museum so that the friend can use UV machines and other tools to decipher the writing. The friend needs more time to work on the tile but was able to confirm already that the first name written on the tile is Izabela and that the second name begins with the letters “L-A-U.” This mystifies Maia, as Izabela’s husband was named Gustavo. (Maia will later realize that the second name is Laurent Brouilly). Floriano also shows Maia an old, black-and-white photograph of Izabela Bonifacio, commenting on the strong resemblance between Maia and her great-grandmother. They make plans to return to Casa das OrquÍdeas the following day to attempt another conversation with Beatriz.

The next morning, Floriano and Maia return to Casa das OrquÍdeas. On their way, Floriano tells Maia more about the Aires Cabral family. They are a well-known, aristocratic Portuguese family whose money was running out by the 1920s when Gustavo married Izabela, whose father was an Italian immigrant who made a fortune in the coffee industry.

Due to Floriano’s charm and persistence, a reluctant Yara grants him and Maia entrance to Beatriz’s home. Maia worries that it is wrong to disturb an old, sick woman. Floriano answers that it may be equally wrong for the old woman to keep secret from Maia the story of her birth. However, Beatriz continues to claim that she cannot help them and that she has no idea who Maia is.

As she and Floriano are leaving the house, Maia pauses to speak with Yara. Maia learns that Yara was born in the grand house only a few years before Beatriz was born. Yara’s mother, Loen, was Izabela’s trusted maid and friend. Yara gives Maia a bundle of letters, claiming that the letters tell part of the story of the Aires Cabral family. Yara gives the letters to Maia because she recognizes the moonstone necklace around Maia’s neck. Back at her hotel, Maia reads through the bundle of letters. The letters are dated 1927 and 1928, sent by Izabela to Loen.