Book Synopsis:
It’s Christmas, and the Birch family is gathering for the first time in years.
Olivia, the eldest daughter, has returned from treating an epidemic abroad and must go into quarantine for seven days. Her mother has decided it’s the perfect opportunity to spend some ‘special time’ together. Her youngest sister wholeheartedly disagrees. Her father isn’t allowed an opinion.
When no one can leave the house, seven days for the Birches feels like an eternity.
Especially when they’re all harbouring secrets. One of whom is about to come knocking at their door…
Seven Days Of Us is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only 99 p but you can purchase a copy of both here.
My Review:
Seven Days Of Us is a heartwarming and hilarious read which manages to be quite emotional in places.
The author uses the familiar scenario of relatives having to spend Christmas together and manages to breathe new life into it with the interesting twist of inforced quarantine. As much as we love our family too much time together can cause problems which is something everyone has probably experienced at some point. This helps to add a bit of tension to the story as the reader is aware of the many different things that could go wrong and wondering which one will happen here.
The book is told in alternate chapters from different characters points of view with each chapter clearly marked so the reader knows who is narrating. This is definitely a dysfunctional and fractured family who are all hiding secrets from one another which was very interesting to see develop. This was especially so when all the secrets start coming out as the multiple point of view makes for truly fascinating reading.
This story is quite well paced though there are a few slower moments in the book. I found I actually really enjoyed this as it gave me a chance to get to know the different characters and the fractured family more so that I felt like I knew them personally. My opinions about them changed a lot throughout the book as I went from not liking a lot of them at the beginning to growing very fond of them towards the end. I was sad to finish the book and leave them all behind which is always a sign of a great read.
This is the author’s debut novel and I’m very excited to see what she writes next. If you like books that lets you really get under the characters skin whilst making you laugh and cry then you’ll love this book!
Huge thanks to Beth from Little Brown for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Francesca Hornak is an author, journalist and former columnist for the Sunday Times Style magazine. Her debut novel Seven Days Of Us (Little, Brown) was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and has been sold in fourteen countries. Little Island Productions and Entertainment One have TV rights to the book. Francesca’s work has appeared in newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Times, The Economist, The Guardian, ES Magazine, Elle and Marie Claire. She is the author of two nonfiction books, History of the World in 100 Modern Objects: Middle Class Stuff (and Nonsense) and Worry with Mother. Follow her on Twitter at @FrancescaHornak
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Happy New Year! Lovely review. I believe I read this book around Christmastime last year. All was good until the ending, and then it all sort of fell apart for me. It was definitely a slower read, but still a good one.
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