Book Review | The House We Grew Up In #20booksofsummer2025

Hoping to start off July strong with a book recommended by a friend.

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The House We Grew Up In
Lisa Jewell

When a tragedy breaks a family apart, what can bring it back together?

The Birds seem to be the perfect family: mother, father, four children, a picture-book cottage in the country.

But when something happens one Easter weekend, it is so unexpected, so devastating, that no one can talk about it.

The family shatters, seemingly for ever.

Until they are forced to return to the house they grew up in. And to confront what really took place all those years ago.

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I have heard a lot of great things about Lisa Jewell, and I have a couple of her books on my shelf, but I hadn’t picked one up until this book got passed to me by one of my friends. Unfortunately for this book, the publisher has re-branded it with a cover and tagline that fit in better with the style she is currently writing, which is mainly psychological thrillers, but to me, they’ve just set it up for failure.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a good book, but it is an exploration of a dysfunctional family and mental illness, and definitely more of a character study than plot-driven, which isn’t what I was expecting. There is a secret, in fact there are a few secrets in this book, but it is not a linchpin the way it would be in a thriller, but rather something that makes sense of how this family has slowly fallen apart. 

None of the characters are particularly likeable in this book; they all have their moments, but if I’m honest, the toxicity throughout this family made it hard for me to feel sorry for them. Especially as it was just one unfortunate event or awkward situation after another, there is a lot that happens to this family, and it feels like a very heavy and, at times, harrowing read. If I’m being honest, it left me feeling melancholy. 

The structure of the story was good, told both in the past and in the present, it shows the family at its best and then reveals all the things that have helped to break them apart. I enjoyed Lorelai’s emails, because it was good to see that she was coming to terms with her illness and willing to realise that she did need help and that her compulsions were keeping people away. 

Whilst it wasn’t the most hopeful book, I liked that there was some kind of salvation for the family at the end, that they managed to pull together despite their trauma and treatment of each other. I think I’ll still pick up the books I have on my shelf by this author, but I’ll maybe try reading them without any expectations.