A fellow blogger reviewed The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell and I added it to my library list. I opted for the audio version, since I love listening to the genre. A twisted tale comes to light when an orphan inherits a house in one of London’s posh neighborhoods.

The Family Upstairs
by Lisa Jewell
Series: The Family Upstairs #1
Narrator: Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, Dom Thornburn
Length: 9 hours and 36 minutes
Genres: Thriller
Source: Library
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate

Rating:
Narration: 5 cups Speed: 1.5x

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.

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Libby Jones was orphaned at six months old and knew nothing about her birth parents. All of that changes when at twenty-five learns she is the sole inheritor of an abandoned mansion, in Chelsea on the Thames. Others have been waiting and watching.

Twenty-five years ago the police arrive at Sixteen Cheyne Walk and find an infant and three dead bodies. Neighbors reveal they believe other children lived there. Where are they? What happened in this house? The story that unfolds reveals those secrets, and it held me captive.

The story is told from the points of view of Libby, Lucy, and Henry. Lucy’s narrative begins when she learns about the mansion. Henry’s perspective tells us what happened in the house and how things changed when the Thompsons came to live with their family. Libby is a divorced mother of two struggling to make ends meet in France. The threads all weave an addictive tale before coming together.

Twists and a well-crafted tale made The Family Upstairs a winner. It’s easy to see why it won a Goodreads Reader Choice Award. The audiobook was fantastic, and I was glad to see three narrators. Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland and Dom Thornburn each handle a point of view giving voice to these characters and their story.

We move back and forth between past and present as secrets are revealed. Complex characters and twists kept me hooked. I highly recommend grabbing this one!

Amazon* | Audible

*kindleunlimited

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2024 Audiobook Challenge

Source

Original source: https://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2024/02/the-family-upstairs-by-lisa-jewell.html