Ebook381 pages5 hours
The Family Upstairs: A Novel
By Lisa Jewell
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this ebook
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA COVER TO COVER BOOK CLUB PICK
“Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author
“A haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read.” —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone comes another page-turning look inside one family’s past as buried secrets threaten to come to light.
Be careful who you let in.
Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.
She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.
Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.
In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA COVER TO COVER BOOK CLUB PICK
“Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author
“A haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read.” —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone comes another page-turning look inside one family’s past as buried secrets threaten to come to light.
Be careful who you let in.
Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.
She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.
Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.
In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.
Author
Lisa Jewell
Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold over 10 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK, on Instagram @LisaJewellUK, and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.
Read more from Lisa Jewell
Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Found You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invisible Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Family Remains: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watching You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House We Grew Up In: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls in the Garden: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Truth About Melody Browne: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Wife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before I Met You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After the Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Family Upstairs
Rating: 4.020833356423611 out of 5 stars
4/5
1,152 ratings79 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wow, can Lisa Jewel write suspense! Great story, well developed chacters and gripping storytelling! I finished it and thought she was setting us up for a sequel. Low and behold there was the sequel when I went to the library. I didn't even have to wait for it to be written.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was fine...I wish the timelines and narrative hadn't been so all over the place. I like a mystery that doesn't rely on the disorienting scramble of events to be surprising. I think this would have been more enjoyable as a linear family drama.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a little different from other books I have read by Lisa Jewell, a little darker and creepier. It is told in three POV, Libby, Lucy and Henry and the storylines flip between Henry in the past as a ten year old and as he grows up, in the present, Lucy a homeless mum of two and Libby who was adopted as a baby. When Libby she is 25 she is finally allowed the letter that has been in trust for her, she is about to find out where she came from. In that letter, she finds about her birth parents but even more astonishing is she has inherited a house, nothing strange there as many people inherit houses, but this is a house is actually a mansion in Chelsea and worth millions. This is where the three characters lives intertwine and secrets are revealed.
This was an absolutely brilliant book to read, it was gripping and kept me on the edge of my seat. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a great book. Lisa Jewel is one of my favorite authors now. Wow! So good.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really enjoyed this. A few twists, not too hard to figure out, but still a great read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is very easy and fun to read , it keeps you interested through all the chapters , many stories converted into one.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is so good! I loved it! Can’t wait to read the prequel.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a wonderful read that kept me on the edge of my seat every page turn. I highly suggest this book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great read. Had me on the edge of my seat!!! Let me just say PLOT freakin TWIST!!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Couldn’t put it down! Enjoyed the different perspective from several characters.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This story while
Difficult to read kept my entrenched. I had to know the ending, worth the read - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very well written! Lots of unexpected plot twists. Great read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enjoyed the book. Jewell write with great flavor and is satisfying to read. She draws you in.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really enjoyed this ! Hope therell be a continuance ?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great overall feeling of darkness and evil lurking below the surface, more could have been done on almost every front in his book however. Such a great setting for evil to flourish and I was left feeling a bit nonplussed at the anticlimactic ending. Still, enjoyable as all get out, and very difficult to put down!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book kept me interested till the very end. There were a lot of surprises along the way. In the earlier chapters, I did find some flashback chapters to be draggy thus the four stars.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book was well-paced and has a certain rhythm to the story lines. Skillful writing, realistic as well as unique characters and a plot full of twists and turns. ... If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it to hardy@novelstar.top or joye@novelstar.top
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was surprised by how many times this novel surprised me! It was creepy without being a horror, and twisted without being repellent. The ending was a chapters built a new tension towards the final shocker. Great book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5so juicy, and plot twisting yet wholesome at the same time!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really got pulled into the story, wanting to see how the different main characters and storylines fit together. I liked how sometimes the reader was given foreshadowing to the ‘official’ mood reveal of information but also sometimes taken down different paths before the final version of things was laid out. Most of the main characters felt complex and real. Though, I sometimes wish there was more to explain the thinking and motives of certain characters, there would be no way to have done that with the writing style the author chose. And if she had taken on a writing style to let the reader see into those other characters, I think the book would have suffered because I think her approach to telling to story is part of what made it an enjoyable read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the tale of a wealthy family and their downfall, precipitated by the addition of numerous characters to their household. The result was abuse of all types compounded by varying degrees of mental illness and bizarre relationships. At times the plot was almost unbelievable, but I still could not put it down. It was a strange but readable tale.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well-written, engrossing story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this as a book club assignment and probably would not have found it on my own. There were several moments in the book that made me gasp and think, “No... really?!?! And I would be shocked into reading more. The family upstairs has some very disturbing reveals and you can’t help feeling both fascinated and horrified at the same time. The one thing I don’t understand very well is the title. I’ll be due to ask my fellow book club readers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Libby turns twenty-five, she receives the documents she's been waiting for-papers with the identity of her birth parents, and the announcement of the empty mansion she has now inherited. She also finds out that even though she was found as a happy healthy baby in the upstairs of the house, downstairs three people were dead and the other children had vanished. As Libby explores her past, she finds it colliding into her present in ways she never expected.This book kept me guessing from the very start! Just when I thought I had something figured out, Jewell completely turned everything on its head. I startled my dog a few times by gasping out loud. Despite being completely exhausted, I curled up on my couch reading for hours to finish this book, because I had to know where everything was going.At first, I found the jump in perspectives a little confusing. But this didn't last long, and didn't affect my enjoyment of this book.Definitely read this book! I might recommend a hard copy edition so you can flip back and forth in the beginning if you get confused a little, but a few chapters in you will not be able to put this book down. And that last sentence...it still gives me chills.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Excellent narration. How anyone can flawlessly switch between male, female, young, old and different accents is a beautiful mystery to me. The evil american character bothered me a little but overall, it was an engaging, suspenseful mystery - which is the point, after all.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this book! I couldn’t put it down. The characters were very realistic and I was drawn in by there story. I liked how the author flipped back and forth from present to past to tell the story. I will definitely be reading more from this author.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It took some time for me to get into this book but once I did — I was riveted. I read brushing my teeth, I read in my way to the laundry room and read as I switched clothes. A twisted, dark disturbing tale of what goes on behind closed doors. This could be any of our neighbors or ourselves..scary as that is. Get ready to read, make sure you can’t keep turning the pages or you’ll be walking into walls to change the laundry!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Those familiar with Lisa Jewell will recognize her penchant for locked doors and secret family connections in her new novel, The Family Upstairs. Jewell has a flair for portraying extreme family dysfunction in a way that carefully treads the line of credulity, given the outrageousness of its complicated plotting. In this book, Libby Jones is Jewell’s main heroine: a strait-laced young woman whose life has been meticulously controlled and planned after a chaotic upbringing by a foster mother who was caring but haphazard. Her organized life is turned upside down, however, when she receives notice that she has reached the age of inheritance from her birth family’s estate. Libby learns that she is now the owner of the mansion where her parents died of mysterious circumstances almost 25 years ago when she was a baby. From the articles she has read, investigators assumed that a suicide pact among cult members was the likeliest explanation, and that there were other children in the house who were never located. She was found abandoned but in good health when the bodies were discovered. What Libby will soon discover is that her acquisition of the house has also spurred others to return to the site with agendas of their own. Jewell slowly unpeels the true events of the deaths in the house through alternating points-of-view from the children who were party to the events. With its many twists and connections, unreliable narrators and biases, The Family Upstairs is an addictive read that compels the reader to willingly swallow largely unbelievable plotlines with relish. The novel could be described as a combination of Flowers in the Attic (by VC Andrews) and Helter Skelter (Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry) or other stories of cults/extreme family-based societies. With an ending that is satisfying but tantalizingly open-ended, Jewell’s latest will provide her fans with some more exciting hours of reading pleasure.Thanks to the author, Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Excellent psychological thriller that kept me glued to my earbuds! Definitely creepy and spellbinding!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A special thank you to Libro.fm Audiobooks, NetGalley and Atria for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.Twenty five years ago, the police were call to a home with reports of a baby crying. Upon arrival, they find a well cared for ten-month old baby happy in her crib. But downstairs, there are three bodies that all dressed in black next to a note. And the four children who reportedly live there are nowhere to be found.At the age of twenty-five, Libby Jones has just found out that she has inherited a large home worth millions in an upscale neighbourhood in Chelsea. The home was held in trust by her birth parents—she learns their identity at the meeting with the solicitor that is handling the estate. There are others that have been waiting for this day as well, and they are on a collision course to meet. In a word, brilliant!Jewell's writing rich, descriptive, and complex. She packs an emotional and psychological punch. There was just the right amount of suspense, and if creepy houses are your bag, than this book is for you! The setting is pivotal to the story and becomes one of its characters.The characters are highly highly developed and rich in detail. Told through multiple perspectives, this compelling and twisty narrative is executed masterfully. Jewell has a knack for creating suspense that is both compelling and sublimely atmospheric.Disturbing at times, gripping, and often quirky, The Family Upstairs is one of my favourite books this year.
Book preview
The Family Upstairs - Lisa Jewell
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