The Book:
The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell, 2014
The Characters:
The Bird family: parents Lorelei and Colin; children Meg (husband Bill), Beth, Rhys, and Rory
The Plot (from the publisher):
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.
Lorelei was a hoarder and ended up romantic partners with Vicky, her neighbor. Rhys commited suicide, which precipitated the rest of the family falling apart. Lorelei left Colin for Vicky. Beth had an affair with Meg’s husband. Rory moved to a commune in Spain with his girlfriend and baby but then left them to move to Thailand. Colin began dating Rory’s ex-girlfriend (the mother of his grandchild).
Vicky passed away, and Meg found out at the funeral about Beth and Bill’s affair. Beth lost touch with the whole family after that.
In the present, the whole family reunites to help Meg clean out Lorelei’s house. This is the first time they’ve seen each other since Vicky’s funeral (except for Rory, who was in jail for drug dealing at the time).
They find Lorelei’s laptop and find out that Rhys had tried to kiss her the night before he killed himself.
The End:
The surviving members of the family are reunited and become a family again, even Colin’s girlfriend/Rory’s ex. They clear out the house and Beth moves in and restores its beauty. Beth has a baby and everyone comes to the house to meet her.
The Review:
This is one of those books that I read years ago when it came out, but couldn’t remember what happened or how it ended–the reason why I started this blog.
Lisa Jewell is such a talented writer. I’ve always been a fan of dysfunctional family stories, and she did a fantastic job of creating relatable, sympathetic characters. I both hated and pitied each character in turn (except for Lorelai–she was selfish and refused to get help and acknowledge how much her actions were hurting those around her), which to me is a testament to Lisa Jewell’s talent.
Do you find yourself revisiting titles you’ve read in the past to remind yourself how they end? Or do you somehow keep a record of the endings to avoid re-reading? Talk to me in the comments!
Enjoyed The House We Grew Up In? Check out some of these related suggestions:
- The Mother-in-Law
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