Maia – the present-day heroine of the first book was easy, because it’s such a beautiful name and still used in the modern era, so she didn’t need a nickname.Īlcyone – ‘Ally’ seemed like a very natural shortening for my second sister.Īsterope – this name means ‘Star’, which leapt out as a gorgeous nickname for this character.Ĭelaeno – after playing around with various anagrams that weren’t working, someone suggested the simple nickname of ‘Ce-Ce’, which immediately got the nod of approval from everyone else. I particularly love the name because the ‘Salt’ part evokes this character’s love of the sea. The anagram takes the ‘P’ from Pleione, the sisters’ mother, and then uses the rest of the letters from Atlas. Pa Salt – my youngest daughter, Leonora, started the ball rolling with the inspired nickname of Pa Salt, my sisters’ adoptive father, who is roughly modelled on Atlas, the Titan in Greek mythology who held up the world and sky on his shoulders. I put some paper and pens on the table, and asked everyone to come up with anagrams and nicknames that could subsequently be used for the characters in the books. So that evening, I put up a board with all the main players on it, and a summary of their key attributes. I also knew that I wanted certain other characters from the myths to feature. I already knew that my sisters – all of them 21st century women – would be named after the mythological sisters of old, but there were some issues with the unfamiliar spellings and pronunciations for a modern-day audience. Soon after I’d had the inspiration to write a series of books based on the Seven Sisters star cluster, I sat down one night with my family.
Many of the characters in the books are linked to the Seven Sisters story as told in Greek mythology, via their names, their physical attributes, their roles in the plot and their personalities. While it’s not necessary to have any knowledge of the stars or the myths to enjoy the books, there are plenty of hidden references to them if you’re interested and you know where to look. ‘The Seven Sisters’ series is loosely based on the ancient stories and myths surrounding the Seven Sisters of the famous Pleiades star cluster.
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