Lisa Jewell

When their picture-perfect Cotswold village family life with a perpetually young father and hippy mother is shattered by a tragic Easter weekend, four siblings pursue separate adult lives before a reunion reveals astonishing truths. By the author of Before I Met You.

A Novel

The House We Grew Up In

i like lisa jewell but this is one of my least fav of hers

Libby W

The unforgettable story about a family with a secret at its core, from Top Ten bestseller Lisa Jewell, author of Ralph's Party, The Making of Us and Before I Met You. When a tragedy breaks a family apart, what can bring it back together? The Birds seem to be the perfect family: mother, father, four children, a picture-book cottage in the country. But when something happens one Easter weekend, it is so unexpected, so devastating, that no one can talk about it. The family shatters, seemingly for ever. Until they are forced to return to the house they grew up in. And to confront what really took place all those years ago.

The House We Grew Up in

Julie Twist

I wasn't sure about this book until I was about a third of the way in, but really enjoyed it in the end. It's about the Bird family over a period of around 30 years, when the four children of Lorelei and Colin - Megan, Bethan, and twins Rory and Rhys - were young. The story follows their lives, involving tragedy, births, deaths, and everything inbetween. The children (as adults) finish up living in various parts of the world, as does Colin, with Lorelei remaining in the family home where she continues to feed her obsession of buying things for which she has no use, gradually filling the house with 'stuff'.

Character dynamics were interesting, but pretty slow and honestly just kinda sad. Watching a whole family gradually grow apart (and eventually nearly fall apart) is hard. The plot was well done but just left me feeling kinda low, even with the attempts at a happy ending.

Erin Goss

Melissa Palmer

Book #27 Read in 2014
The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

This novel was an excellent read. It detailed the dysfunction of the Bird family--father Colin, mother Lorelei, children Meg, Bethann, Rory and Rhys--and all the fallout that stemmed from that dysfunction. Lorelei was a hoarder and her disorder got worse and worse as time went on and the children grew up and left the family home. The children were definitely not without their own issues and each character in this book was a complex one. The writing was wonderful; the characters described in such vivid detail that they were all larger than life. This was my first book by this author but I will definitely read more by her. I received a review copy of this book from BookBrowse in exchange for a review.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Creepy but intriguing. Felt like every horrible Reddit story and an episode of hoarders crossover.

Ariel Correa

I was hooked instantly. There was so much drama in this book and all of it was really flushed out except for Rhy’s kissing his mum? It was built up for the entire book only to be quickly brushed over at the very end, it kinda ruined it for me 

Ellen kane 

Jordan /

This book is honestly so weird. Just about everything that could happen to characters seemed to happen.

Samantha Kalany Hughes

Wow. 

Definitely a slow start here. I was slow to pick on the hidden events that took place until reading about in full a chapter or so later. What a terribly sad and both relatable tale, however. I placed my family in this narrative in my head, with the exception of Rhys's outcome, of course. Terribly heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. I would recommend this to a friend!

Adrianna Giunta

I really love domestic thrillers/mysteries and this was really good. I want to read more of Lisa Jewell's books, I enjoyed the writing style and the fact that it was set in the Cotswolds which is where I'm from. I recognised so many areas in this book!

The House We Grew Up In A Novel

Reviews