A fabulous , funny twisty family story, ideal for fans of Joanna Trollope and Maeve Binchy. Hornak is one to watch.

The book is based on a shaky premise of an entire family being quarantined when thei eldest daughter returns from a stint in Africa, possibly exposed to the deadly Haag virus. They choose to spend Christmas week in quarantine in their stately home. All this is thin and totally unbelievable.

Mother is hiding a cancer diagnosis, younger daughter is engaged to a man who might be gay. The family manages to gad about despite the quarantine. In the midst of this, dad's illegitimate son pops in for a visit from California. Before all this, he has a random chat and confides in a woman he met at Heathrow, of course its mom, Emma. So pat, so silly, too many coincidences.

So, despite the many flaws, it is a facile read. One cannot help but find the characters very likable. The ending, again too predictable with a death and a pregnancy.

Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak


I received advanced readers copy from Net Gallery in exchanged for an honest review.
It was the first time reading author Francesca Hornak’s work and must say it was engaging and gobsmacked.
The story takes place in England about a lovely family, spending the holidays together for seven days in a family countryside estate under quarantine due to their daughter Olivia- doctor helping to ward off Haag virus in Liberia.
Andrew Birch is a food critic writing for The World Magazine; he has been married to Emma for about thirty years, and together they have two lovely daughters Olivia who is the doctor and Phoebe who does some type of work in reality television.
It appears that while one family member is taking the plug falling in love and finding romance, the another is getting engaged, just when the parent's marriage is in a state of complacency or is it? Andrew and Olivia’s lives seem to be parallel, at one point, Andrew was a war correspondent working in war-torn Lisbon. Every family is dysfunctional, and keep secrets, or so they like to think it’s a secret, but secrets have a way of showing up.

A family is forced to stay together for 7 days in their country home. Each member has a secret or problem that they are dealing with. All is revealed at the end and everyone comes to understand each other better. It was an enjoyable read but I personally found it a bit predicable and thought that the ending was too abrupt.