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In The Family Upstairs, Libby Jones inherits a multi-million-dollar mansion, where she had once been found as a 10-month-old baby. Along with it, she learns who her birth parents were, but also about their deaths in what investigators deemed to be a suicide pact as well as the two older siblings who went missing. 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. Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. She compromised on everything in the end to find a place that was close to her job and not too far from the train station. There was no gut instinct as she stepped across the threshold; her heart said nothing to her as the estate agent showed her around. But she made it a home to be proud of, painstakingly creaming off the best that T.J.Maxx had to offer, and now her badly converted, slightly awkward one-bedroom flat makes her feel happy. She bought it; she adorned it. It belongs to her. Libby breathes in sharply and raises her gaze to the ceiling. “This must be wrong,” she says. “This must be a mistake.”
The Family Upstairs (Lisa Jewell) Summary Guide - LitLovers The Family Upstairs (Lisa Jewell) Summary Guide - LitLovers
In The Family Upstairs, the New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone and master of “bone-chilling suspense” ( People) delivers another powerful and propulsive story of two families living in a house with the darkest of secrets. I think so.” There’s a covering letter, something about nobody else named on the trust coming forward in due time. She can’t digest it at all. She takes the letter into the kitchen and sits it on the table while she fills the kettle and puts a tea bag in a mug. Libby is pretty sure she knows what’s in the envelope. She turned twenty-five last month. She’s been subconsciously waiting for this envelope. But now that it’s here she’s not sure she can face opening it.She hears a silence at the other end of the line. She pictures her mum in her own kitchen, a thousand miles away in Dénia: pristine white units, lime-green color-coordinated kitchen accessories, sliding glass doors onto a small terrace with a distant view to the Mediterranean, her phone held to her ear in the crystal-studded case that she refers to as her bling. What is the effect of characters calling Libby “the baby” throughout the novel? How does this inform your opinion of Libby and her role in the story?
best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
While the premise of The Family Upstairs seems like pretty standard mystery fare, I should warn you that this is sort of a weird story. Her mum knows what’s in here. Or at least she has an idea, though she was never told formally what was in the trust. It might, as she has always said, be a teapot and a ten-pound note. Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. 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 There are many intriguing characters who do not directly narrate the novel. Is there a character whose point of view you’d have liked to had included? What do you think Martina, for example, thought about David and Birdie’s choices?I thought much of it was very well done. The mystery is compelling and paced evenly throughout the book. Jewell draws a compelling portrait of a family falling into the clutches of a conniving egomaniac. It’s not entirely satisfying, but is largely well-written and believable enough. I like that Jewell makes the effort to craft mystery novels that aren’t only centered around a handful of plot twists. Instead, she tries to offer her readers compelling stories that extend beyond that. But of course there’s some plot twists in there, too! What types of power are wielded in this novel? Who has power, who loses it, and who wants it? Is there a character without any agency? There’s a family that invites these other families to come live with them, a dude growing drugs at their house, a woman who is fiddler that’s busking on the streets and asking her abusive ex-husband for help, and a possible suicide pact/cult murder. None of this is implausible or that out there, but they’re a bit weird plot components. Whether or not it’s weird in a good or bad way probably depends on the reader. The Good Stuff With its atmospheric setting, dark mystery, and twists and turns, The Family Upstairs seems like the perfect book to adapt to a movie. Who would you cast as its stars? Discuss as a group how a director might adapt a book with so many narrators and perspectives.
The Family Upstairs Series by Lisa Jewell - Goodreads
That said, assuming you like the sound of it, I think the book is well-written and well-plotted. There are a number of “mystery” elements in the story. As the story proceeds, we slowly begin to unravel what exactly were the circumstances of Henry and Martina Lamb’s deaths. At the same time, there’s the question of what happened to the other kids in the house and what will happen when Libby is reunited with them.Henry, rightfully, hates David. Yet, Henry and David share many similar tendencies and qualities. Compare and contrast the two men.
The Family Upstairs Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary
Well then, my angel,” says her mother—and Libby can hear her smile from all these miles away—“you’ll be a very rich woman indeed.”Jewell excels in creating complex characters, building tension and keeping readers in the dark yet riveted until the "Aha!" moments...this thriller unfolds and concludes in a very satisfying way." — Shelf Awareness In Part I, Libby Louise Jones turn 25 and inherits a London mansion from her birth parent's trust. She learns her birth parents were Henry and Martina Lamb. They died when she was a baby in what appeared to be a suicide pact. Libby' birth name is Serenity. She also had two older siblings ( Henry Jr. and Lucy) who mysteriously disappeared. Libby, Miller Roe (a reporter who previously wrote about the story) and Dido (Libby's co-worker), begin to investigate. They find a man named Phin in the mansion.
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