Book Review: The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

Second book attempted by this author, first one finished. I tried years ago to read Thirtynothing and just could not get into it, which made me nervous to try any of her other books. But this was really good! It took on some heavy issues - hoarding, suicide, cancer, adultery - that you wouldn't normally see all wrapped up in one story. It made me think the Bird family should have gone on the Jerry Springer show. :) The characters are substantial....some of them....well, my feelings towards some of the characters would change throughout the story. Not something that usually happens for me. I think the only one I really liked all the way through the story was Megan. 

It was, as you can tell, quite the serious read. Not what I would really call a beach read, but more of a staycation type of book. A definite go to when you want to break away from the light and fluffy chick lit.

From the GoodReads website, "Meet the Bird family. They live in a honey-colored house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching beyond. Pragmatic Meg, dreamy Beth, and tow-headed twins Rory and Rhys all attend the village school and eat home-cooked meals together every night. Their father is a sweet gangly man named Colin, who still looks like a teenager with floppy hair and owlish, round-framed glasses. Their mother is a beautiful hippy named Lorelei, who exists entirely in the moment. And she makes every moment sparkle in her children's lives.

Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they've never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in -- and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family's desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home."