I listened to The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell on Audible at the end of winter, having been recommended it by a friend from my writing group. It was beautifully read and the characters leapt off the audio page as this sinister tale unfolded and I found myself unable to listen to my usual fare of weekly podcasts until I had finished it.

The story is told in three points of view. The main protagonist is Libby Jones, whose very ordinary life living alone and selling kitchens in St Albans is turned upside down when she turns twenty-five and discovers she has been left a house in Chelsea by her birth family, having been adopted as a baby. She is joined in the storytelling by Lucy, now a struggling homeless mother who grew up as a child in the house Libby has inherited, and Lucy’s brother Henry, who takes us back into the dark days before Libby was born.

In the present, Libby is reeling from shock, and on a quest to find out who her family were and what happened to her as a baby, whilst in the past, Henry and Lucy’s life with their parents is slowly but surely dismantled, when a charismatic cult leader enters their world and takes it over. Henry’s first person narration feels very unreliable as things get darker and darker, and Lucy’s life takes a dramatic turn for the worse, before all three finally face each other and their shared past.

This is an extremely well-plotted and gripping thriller and one I’d highly recommend losing yourself in.