You can use your Minuteman Library Network card to borrow titles from these partner libraries:
3 of 3 copies available
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. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. She's just returned from treating an epidemic abroad and has 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 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 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....
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
October 17, 2017 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780525498933
- File size: 275795 KB
- Duration: 09:34:34
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
October 30, 2017
Hornak’s smart, delightfully funny, page-turning debut takes a posh, dysfunctional British family—two parents, two adult daughters, each with a secret—slaps on a week’s worth of quarantine at Christmastime, and adds a dash of pathos as well as a large helping of humor. Do-gooder Olivia Birch is back from treating an Ebola-like epidemic in Liberia—hence the catalyst for the family quarantine—and doesn’t want anyone to know about her affair with one of her coworkers. Andrew, her father and a former Beirut war correspondent, has just received an email from Jesse Robinson, a son in the U.S. he never knew he had from a one-night stand in Lebanon years ago. Andrew’s wife, Emma, recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, is determined not to ruin Christmas by spilling the beans about her illness. Daughter Phoebe has just accepted a proposal from her swanky boyfriend, George, but she’s not sure she truly loves him. Jesse travels to the U.K. to meet his biological father and the ensuing coincidences, mishaps, arguments, and opportunities for self-reflection upend the Birch family relationships. As the story unfolds from various viewpoints, Hornak imbues each character with a singularity that underscores her spot-on insight about human nature. -
The Birch family is quarantined by the return of Olivia, the oldest daughter, who has helped treat an epidemic abroad. They struggle to embrace being together for Christmas for the first time in years. Narrator Jilly Bond shows a great range in depicting the three female characters--Emma, the family matriarch, and sisters Olivia and Phoebe, each of whom has her own distinct cadence--as well as the three male characters, patriarch Andrew; George, Phoebe's fianc�; and a surprise visitor. Family tension is played out in pauses, raised voices, stammered dialogue, and shocked gasps, which are lightened by laughter that comes from the recollection of happier and easier times. Bond does a beautiful job narrating a heartwarming story. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
-