Seven Days Of Us
by Francesca Hornak
Published on : October 17, 2017 (Berkley Books)
Genre : Contemporary, Fiction

It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter–who is usually off saving the world–will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. Having just returned from treating an epidemic abroad, she’s been told she must stay in quarantine for a week…and so too should her family.

For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity–and even decent Wi-Fi–and forced into each other’s orbits. Younger, unabashedly frivolous daughter Phoebe is fixated on her upcoming wedding, while Olivia deals with the culture shock of being immersed in first-world problems.

As Andrew sequesters himself in his study writing scathing restaurant reviews and remembering his glory days as a war correspondent, Emma hides a secret that will turn the whole family upside down.

In close proximity, not much can stay hidden for long, and as revelations and long-held tensions come to light, nothing is more shocking than the unexpected guest who’s about to arrive. (via Goodreads)

Olivia has been treating patients with Haag virus in Liberia and now it’s time for her to go back home. But first she has to go under quarantine for seven days together with her family in their country house. For the first time in years, they will be all together under one roof. Can they all survive the whole week?

I think I wouldn’t mind spending seven or more days with my family specially right. Actually, I’ll be spending three weeks with them (not under quarantine of course) starting next week because we will visiting them. I haven’t been with them since 2014. Okay. Back to the review.

I was so close to not finishing this book after 6 chapters because almost all of the characters are so self-involved and just plain annoying. But there’s something about the Birch family that kept me reading. In fact, I was rooting for them towards the end.

I love that this book is told from the different perspectives of the family members. It allows the readers to get to know the characters well including their secrets and see their thoughts about each other. The chapters are short which made this book a fast read and the author’s writing is beautiful though I had a bit of a hard time understanding some British slang words and phrases. But overall, I really enjoyed this book.

I had some issues with the quarantine part. Why does Olivia has to stay with her family during the quarantine? Why not do it alone in some isolated place and meet her family after rather than forcing them all in one house. She doesn’t have any contacts with them except online. Is it because Christmas is near so she has to be with them? But she’s usually not around so they are probably used to it, right? There are also some events during the quarantine that didn’t seem believable to me.

This book has a lot of secrets and coincidences. The characters share their secrets with the readers which makes this book more compelling to read. Some of the twists were quite predictable except that one towards the end that really hit me so hard. I liked how the characters developed throughout the story. The ending is perfect and I really loved the epilogue.

Seven Days of Us is a very heartwarming novel that will make you ask yourself how well do you know your own family and yourself. You might want to pick up this book for the coming holidays.

*Disclaimer : Huge thanks to Berkley Books / Penguin Random House for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.*