Lucinda Riley

Author and actress Lucinda Riley was born in 1966 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, with the maiden name Lucinda Edmonds. At the age of 14, she moved to London to attend specialized courses in theater and ballet, and at 16, she landed her first role in the BBC television adaptation of "The Treasure Seekers" by Elizabeth Nesbit. Her acting career continued with two more productions but was cut short due to health reasons at the age of 23, prompting her to write and publish her first book, "Lovers and Players" (1992). She published seven more novels under the name Lucinda Edmonds until 2000, averaging one per year. Her first novel as Lucinda Riley, "Hothouse Flower" (also known as "The Orchid House," 2010), was selected by the Richard and Judy Bookclub and sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Since then, Lucinda Riley has repeatedly been named a No. 1 bestselling author on "The New York Times" list as well as on lists in four other European countries. In 2014, she began "The Seven Sisters Series," which is allegorically based on the myth of the Pleiades constellation (first book: "The Seven Sisters"). Concurrently, at the request of her readers, she has rewritten and reissued the eight books from the start of her career that she originally published as Lucinda Edmonds. Her books have been translated into 28 languages and are published in 38 countries. She lives with her husband and their four children on the North Norfolk coast of England and in the South of France.