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The House We Grew Up In

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3.86 37,735 ratings 3,783 reviews
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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 ho... MoreMeet 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. Less

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Average rating 3.86  ·  37,735 ratings  ·  3,783 reviews

rated it it was amazing
9 months ago

I have to confess... I almost put this novel down when I began sensing that it was going to be dealing with hoarding. I am a major type A personality and the idea of mountains of crap everywhere just makes me feel panicky. So imagine my surprise when by chapter three I could ...more

rated it it was amazing
almost 6 years ago

What a fabulous,fabulous read. I honestly LOVED this book and I could not put it down.
This story is about the Bird family. Lorelei is married to Colin and they have four children, Megan, Bethan, and twins, Rory and Rhys.
One Easter weekend tragedy strikes the Bird family whic
...more

rated it it was amazing
over 4 years ago

I had the indulgent experience of reading this Jewell of a book in one day. A rainy Saturday with no commitments. Well none I wanted to face, put it that way!

This story really delved into every level of one family's relationships. Layer upon layer upon layer. A family to lov
...more

rated it it was amazing
5 months ago

I rate this book 5 out of 5 ⭐ dysfunctional family members⭐

This is the story of the Bird family and each one of them is more messed up then the next.

Lisa Jewel is an amazing writer. This book is so smooth and natural that I felt like I almost knew the characters. None of the
...more

rated it liked it
about 5 years ago



'You can paint it all the colors your want, as long as it is black' - Henry Ford.

I concluded this read, admittedly skipping four predictable, dreary chapters somewhere in the middle. The summarizing chapters at the end caught me up with the tedious events I have anyway s
...more

rated it really liked it
about 6 years ago

Where to start, is the question of the day. I haven't quite decided so this review might be a little all over the place. The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell follows the Bird family through the years, alluding to why they are all so estranged then climaxing to the devastat ...more

rated it it was amazing
10 months ago

EXCERPT: Molly stared at the house through her Ray-Bans. 'So weird,' she said. 'Just to think, you lived there, all of you, you were all just, like, normal kids, going to school and stuff, having friends and then, one by one you all left her and she died, you know, completel ...more

rated it really liked it
7 months ago

Shelves: book-club , mystery
This was a great read that reminded me just how dysfunctional most families are. It's just a tipping of the scale to go from one extreme to another. Easter is a precious holiday to Lorelei and her family; until one year, a terrible tragedy strikes which changes each of them. ...more

rated it did not like it
over 5 years ago


The Bird family live in a picturesque Gloucestershire village and apparently all love each other and live a perfectly wonderful life. The four children, Megan, Bethan and twins Rory and Rhys enjoy a happy, somewhat chaotic lifestyle with parents happy-clappy, head-in-the-clo
...more

rated it it was amazing
over 1 year ago

Oh my! What a gem!
Incredibly moving, delightfully funny, Painfully tragic. 
Beautifully written and exquisitely narrated!


Easter Sunday,  2011.
It's a beautiful day. 
The sun is warm and high in the cloudless blue sky, and the whole Bird family is at home.
It's a perfect day.
...more

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Book details

Hardcover, 388 pages
Published August 12th 2014 by Atria Books (first published January 1st 2013
ISBN
1476702993 (ISBN13: 9781476702995)
Edition language
English
Original title
The House We Grew Up In

About this author

28,963 followers
Lisa was born in London in 1968. Her mother was a secretary and her father was a textile agent and she was brought up in the northernmost reaches of London with her two younger sisters. She was educated at a Catholic girls’ Grammar school in Finchley. After leaving school at sixteen she spent two years at Barnet College doing an arts foundation course and then two years at Epsom School of Art & De ...more

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Articles featuring this book

Author Lisa Jewell Shares Her Favorite Domestic Suspense Novels

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Quotes

I know as well as you do that only the individual has the key to change themselves. It’s buried deep inside each and every one of us and although someone else can help us to find the key, we’re the only ones who can use it.
she was only here because she didn’t have the guts to be anywhere else. Because she felt like the last guest at an unsuccessful party, too guilt-ridden to leave.
The human memory is such a cruel, frustrating thing, the way it just discards things without asking permission, precious things. At least here, in my house, I have control over my memories.

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