I am going to start this review off by being honest: I found this book a bit scary. Not horror scary, but anticipation scary. That is the biggest compliment I can give to Lisa Jewell. She has written a novel tight on anticipation and suspense. A proper thriller book which can sit alongside Gone Girl.
It was hard to put this book down, even when I wanted to. There are numerous twists and even moments of unbearable sadness. It is a good novel and the writing is done with so much technical talent that I was in awe as a fellow writer. Tightly wound and with enough surprises to keep any reader happy; this novel works on every level. I also loved the cover. It is so lovely seeing a female writers book being marketed to both genders. I can recommend this novel but, as I said, I also found some of it sad. I don’t want to give too much away, but it also leaves you angry at some of the characters.
Recommended.
Everyone has secrets. What if you can’t remember yours?
Lily has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night, she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one.
Alice finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement, she invites him into her home.
But who is he, and how can she trust a man who has lost his memory?
Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can’t remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s brilliant new novel.
Lisa Jewell had always planned to write her first book when she was fifty. In fact, she wrote it when she was twenty-seven and had just been made redundant from her job as a secretary. Inspired by Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, a book about young people just like her who lived in London, she wrote the first three chapters of what was to become her first novel, Ralph’s Party. It went on to become the bestselling debut novel of 1998.
Thirteen bestselling novels later, she lives in London with her husband and their two daughters. Lisa writes every day in a local cafe where she can drink coffee, people-watch, and, without access to the internet, actually get some work done.
The Upstairs Room is one of our favourite books of the year. Now out in paperback. Read it now.
A very clever and well written book with a message. An environmental wake up call for a fragile planet.
A engrossing and fun novel. Perfect for fans of Call The Midwife. The second book in the Nurses of Steeple Street series.
A stunning book from Lisa Jewell. An edge of your seat unputdownable thriller. One of the books of the year. You won’t forget it.
A smart take on the original classic. Written in an unconventional way that works. The story of one woman and her life. Well observed and entertaining.