Lucinda Riley

Lucinda Kate Riley (; 16 February 1965 – 11 June 2021) was a Northern Irish author of popular historical fiction, formerly an actress and ballet dancer.

Biography Lucinda Edmonds was born in Lisburn At age 14, she enrolled in the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London to study theatre and ballet. At 16, she got her first major television role in the BBC adaptation of The Story of the Treasure Seekers, followed shortly afterwards by a guest role in Auf Wiedersehen Pet. She remained a working actress for the next seven years.

Her acting career was interrupted by a long bout of mononucleosis. This caused her to turn to writing, and her first novel Lovers and Players was published in 1992. This novel series made her a bestselling author, especially in Europe. The novels have been translated into several languages and have sold a combined total of more than 30 million books. In 2016, producer Raffaella De Laurentiis purchased the television rights to this series.

In 2019, Riley revealed to Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that she had oesophageal cancer. She continued to work, producing five novels during the four years of her illness, but was unable to complete the planned final eighth novel in her Seven Sisters series before her death on 11 June 2021. After her death, her son, Harry Whittaker, completed the series. Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt was posthumously released in May 2023.

Filmography The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1982) Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983) Jumping the Queue (1989)