From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)

Lisa Jewell

Start date: March 2, 2020

Finish date: April 2, 2020

Discussion: Books of the Month

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 163 topics — 23,392 comments total

Books of the Month

* The Names by Florence Knapp - Sep 25 Adult / Non-Fiction BOM (starts 16 Sep)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 18 posts · 99 views

last updated Sep 22, 2025 03:24PM

* The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese - Sep 25 Theme BOM - South and South East Asia (Starts 5 September)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 44 posts · 80 views

last updated Sep 22, 2025 08:30AM

showing 10 of 39 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 05, 2019 Kris Ruggiero rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-booklist, arcs, netgalley, favorite-books-2019

I was excited to read this book because I'd read so many great reviews of Lisa Jewell's books. When I read the description of this one, it sounds like a book I would enjoy and boy, did I ever enjoy this! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. When I did have to stop reading, I wanted to get back to the book as quickly as possible.
.
We are first introduced to Libby Jones, a young woman living in St Albans, England who just turned 25. She's got her own flat and a job at a kitchen design ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 24, 2022 Bonnie rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-books, thrill-me-chill-me

Twenty-five years ago, three people died in an apparent cult suicide. Left alone was a crying baby, the daughter of two of the dead adults. Under their will, she would inherit their Chelsea mansion on her twenty-fifth birthday. The other children thought to be in the house were nowhere to be found, and the police did not seem to look too hard for them.

Libby Jones, the baby left behind in the mansion, has grown up and discovered her inheritance. The perspective flips between her and two others: Twenty-five years ago, three people died in an apparent cult suicide. Left alone was a crying baby, the daughter of two of the dead adults. Under their will, she would inherit their Chelsea mansion on her twenty-fifth birthday. The other children thought to be in the house were nowhere to be found, and the police did not seem to look too hard for them.

Libby Jones, the baby left behind in the mansion, has grown up and discovered her inheritance. The perspective flips between her and two others: Henry, her older brother who narrates the events that lead up to the suicides, and Lucy, her older sister who somehow ended up homeless in France with a dog and two children. Henry's narration is the most interesting part of the book, and the story of how his family became enmeshed with the charismatic, ruthless David Thompson and Henry's own obsession with David's son should have been the focus of this book. Libby's investigation of her newly discovered past is useful to build a framework of what was occurring in the "present" day, but Libby herself is a bland thriller heroine. Lucy's struggle in France, meanwhile, feel like an entirely different book altogether. This is especially true because Lucy, to build narrative suspense, is not allowed to examine her past and how the events of her childhood shaped her. Instead, to prevent potential spoilers, her narrative is focused on the "now." It would have been a better book to cut her narrative out entirely.

Spoilers for the ending below:
(view spoiler)[The adults did not kill themselves. Henry, who became interested in plants and poisons, poisoned their food to try to knock them out for a bit to allow the children to take cash and valuables and escape. However, he misestimated the dose and they died. Cult leader David's lover, Birdie, wakes up and gets killed by Henry with an antler/tusk and he stashes her body on the roof (which is never found, because even though trusts are supposed to preserve the value of assets with which they are entrusted - which should involve basic repairs like roof maintenance once in twenty-five years, apparently the trustees managing the house just leave it abandoned for over two decades). David had been obsessed with having a child so that he could use it to inherit the house himself, so he first impregnated Henry/Lucy's mother and when she miscarried, impregnated thirteen-year-old Lucy. Lucy also had sex with the 17/18-year-old Phin (David's son and Henry's crush) and is convinced that the baby is Phin's although it seems like the father could be either David OR Phin, especially since Lucy did not have any medical care so it would be very hard to pinpoint the exact day of conception. The discussion of consent for a very young, sheltered, abused, trapped, child having sex with two older men (one MUCH older) is decidedly sparse and kind of handwaved a bit, which made the whole situation even more gross.

Libby is actually Lucy's child, not her sister. Lucy, David, and Phin (and Phin's sister) all run away. Lucy/Phin meant to return to get baby Libby but Phin was very sick (he had been poisoned by David in retaliation for not reciprocating David's crush) and they did not return in time to get the baby before the police arrived. The teens are all concerned that they will be accused of murder so they never come forward. Lucy's decision to never come forward is the most confusing, because she is homeless, with two kids, without a valid passport, in France, and she decides she can't come home until Libby inherits (with the hope Libby will just house her/help her out). Lucy would rather ask her abusive, rapist of an ex-husband to get blackmarket passports then trying to use her real persona to return to the UK. She thinks she can never prove her identity, which is ridiculous. It's called a DNA test and it could certainly be used to prove her identity. Second, if she needs money so desperately, the DailyMail would completely pay her for her sensational story, and she could edit out the parts she doesn't want discussed (i.e., it was her baby). But a wealthy family becoming entangled with a cult leader which leads to the (apparent) suicide of three people would get tabloid attention and maybe even a book deal. And the inheritance is also Lucy's because the inheritance is for any of the heirs when they turn 25. So Lucy could inherit the multi-million dollar house herself. It's just absolutely silly that these false barriers are thrown up, especially since Lucy lives so many years hand-to-mouth and struggling to keep her kids fed and safe. She would rather play the fiddle on the street instead of just calling the trustees and stating her identity and requesting that they do a DNA test. Just another reason to cut out Lucy's viewpoint from the narrative. (hide spoiler)] ...more

1 like · Like · see review