About the Book
"Clever, intelligent...wonderful" (Jojo Moyes, New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You). Meet the Bird family. They live in a simple brick house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching just beyond. Pragmatic Meg, dreamy Beth, and tow-headed twins Rory and Rhys all attend the village school and eat home-cooked meals together each night. Everybody in town gushes over the two girls, who share their mother's apple cheeks and wide smiles. Of the boys, lively, adventurous Rory can stir up trouble, moving through life more easily than little Rhys, his slighter, more sensitive counterpart. Their father is a sweet gangly man, but it's their mother, Lorelei, a beautiful free spirit with long flowing hair and eyes full of wonder, who spins at the center.
Time flies in those early years when the kids are still young. Lorelei knows that more than anyone, doing her part to freeze time by protecting the precious mementos she collects, filling the house with them day by day. Easter egg foils are her favorite. Craft supplies, too. She insists on hanging every single piece of art ever produced by any of the children, to her husband's chagrin.
Then one Easter weekend, tragedy occurs. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass and the children have become adults, found new relationships, and, in Meg's case, created families of their own. Lorelei has become the county's worst hoarder. She has alienated her husband, her children, and has been living as a recluse for six years. It seems as though they'd never been The Bird Family at all, as if loyalty were never on the table. But then something happens that calls them home, back to the house they grew up in--and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.
Delving deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the gripping story of a family's desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.
About the Author :
Lisa Jewell is the internationally bestselling author of eighteen novels, including the New York Times bestseller Then She Was Gone, as well as I Found You, The Girls in the Garden, and The House We Grew Up In. In total, her novels have sold more than two million copies across the English-speaking world and her work has also been translated into sixteen languages so far. Lisa lives in London with her husband and their two daughters. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.
Review :
"A dramatic look at siblings, parents, and hoarding."--Redbook
"Jewell cleverly frames the destruction of the Bird family ....an absolute page-turner."--Booklist
..".prose so beautiful that it glitters on the page. Lisa Jewell lays down piece after piece of mosaic, revealing the heart of the Bird family, filled in equal measure with love and loss. Unforgettable."--Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Solomon's Oak, Finding Casey, and Owen's Daughter
"You'll be desperate to find out what messed this family up so badly."--Sophie Kinsella, author of Shopaholic to the Stars
"A gorgeous, powerful, affecting tale of a family both ordinary and extraordinary. Lisa Jewell is a wonderful storyteller, and The House We Grew Up In grips you from the first page to the last. I'm afraid to say it made me neglect both my children and my husband. The Bird family might be dysfunctional, but I was strangely sorry to leave it."--Anna Maxted, author of Getting Over It and Running In Heels
"Lisa Jewell's quixotic Bird family functions like an operatic ensemble--each voice distinct, each singing its heart out, seemingly oblivious to the others. Yet somehow by the end of this engrossing, beautifully crafted novel, their separate stories will draw them back together, reminding us that, however hard we struggle against them, family ties are not easily undone."--Judith Ryan Hendricks, author of Bread Alone
"This richly rendered family saga is populated with such compelling characters and told in such luscious, insightful prose, that a singular tragedy is made universally relatable. You won't be able to stop thinking about it long after the book is over."--Jessie Sholl, author of Dirty Secret
"Clever, intelligent, and believable on a subject few of us really understand. Lorrie is one of the most vivid--and complex--characters I've read in years. Wonderful."--Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You
