I enjoyed this book as it had enough interesting threads through the storyline to keep me wanting to read more. The dramas that unfold as the family are quarantined together in the family home weren't that predictable which I was pleased about.

Could you spend seven days in confinement with just your family? It’s an interesting question that far too many of us would answer with a laugh or a lie. Here Hornak has taken that question and turned it into a brilliant novel. 

Olivia is a doctor who’s just returned from Africa where she was dealing with an Ebola-like virus. She, and subsequently her family if they want to see each other, must stay in quarantine for seven days across the Christmas period until it is certain she has not contracted the disease and therefore, not brought it to UK soil. 

Joining her will be her immediate family -- her parents, Andrew and Emma, and younger sister, Phoebe -- all of whom she has avoided at Christmas for many years. What starts out as a rocky ride - with Olivia unable to adjust to the thoughtless disregard of those closest to her when it comes to their wealth and entitlement compared to where she has been -- gets bumpier with the addition of George, Phoebe’s finance, and Jesse, Andrew’s surprise illegitimate son. 

The book is an easy read, with short chapters written from the point of view of the various family members.  At times the family have more curve balls thrown at them than a daytime soap opera, however, they still keep an air of reality, and Hornak’s writing is literary enough to prevent the plot falling into a cliched heap. 

In fact, Hornak adds a lot of her deep thoughts with such subtlety that many readers might just skim over things that others might ponder much longer. 

I must point out that the family’s conflict is not War of the Roses throwing of punches. All the characters have their moments of light and shade, which makes it easy for us to accept and empathise with their actions.  I also swapped loyalties quite often when they were embroiled in their moments of conflict. Actually I didn’t dislike any of the characters; I even found a fair bit of sympathy and fondness for George.

I like how there’s nothing predictable about this book, and just when I was all proud at myself for having one plot point figured out correctly, Hornak added a twist which I hadn’t seen coming at all. 

Seven Days of Us is highly enjoyable. I highly recommend it while I'm eagerly anticipating Nornak's future novels.

5 out of 5

EXCERPT: Here it was, the voice he had been half dreading, half expecting. He thought back to that sultry night in Beirut 1980, the one he had tried to convince himself had never happened. And then he thought of the strange little letter that Leila Deeba had written him eighteen months ago, which had been forwarded from The World's offices. He still had it, hidden from Emma. 'My late birth mother was ...' So the glorious, firm-bodied woman he had fucked between hotel sheets was dead. He stood up and stared out of the rain-flecked window. 'Frosty the Snowman' came floating up from the basement kitchen. How had he reached an age when a woman he had slept with could be dead - and it wasn't even remarkable? It was a bleak train of thought, and he forced himself back to the present. What, if anything, ought he to reply to this man? And, more to the point, what on earth was he going to tell Emma?

THE BLURB: A warm, wry, sharply observed debut novel about what happens when a family is forced to spend a week together in quarantine over the holidays...

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…

MY THOUGHTS: Written in short chapters, alternating between the members of the Birch family and their unexpected guest, who finds himself in a situation he could never have imagined, this is an emotional and sometimes amusing story of a family forced to spend seven days sequestered together cut off from the outside world.

Previously the author of two non-fiction books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles, this is Hornak's first foray into the world of the fictional novel. And it is an impressive foray. She displays a great descriptive turn of phrase, describing age spotted mirrors as being like over-ripe bananas. She also has a good understanding of family dynamics and a talent for conveying them, realistically, into words. You will grow to both love and detest her characters, you will want to hug them and slap some sense into them.

This is not a book that is going to set the world on fire. It is a book that is a quietly satisfying read and should be read with a supply of tissues within easy reach.

Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak is due to be published 31st October 2017.

Thank you to Hachette Australia via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

Very good for a debut book. Although I must say, I am glad I am not part of this family. The father Andrew was once a war correspondent and gave it up when his wife Emma had their first child, I feel he really resented their daughter Olivia and therefore did not have a good relationship with her, rather making sure his second daughter Phoebe got all of his attention.

Olivia is a doctor, working overseas and has always felt her father was indifferent to her. She has been gone for 10 years and in that time Phoebe has relished all the attention and has a wonderful rapport with her father, even surpassing her mother Emma who gave up her dreams of having a business in the food industry when she had Olivia.

Olivia comes home for Christmas and quarantine for the Haag Virus after working in Liberia. Seven days of living back with the family, a family she no longer knows. Secrets are being kept among all family members. Andrew receives an email from a surprise person, Emma has a personal secret that she has kept to herself, only telling her best friend Nicola, Phoebe is only concerned with her upcoming Wedding to George, even when he has not told her he loves her and Olivia has broken one of the biggest rules of her employment.

There is so much angst in this household and as you read the book, it just keeps getting worse. I don't know if I would call it an enjoyable read as I felt quite depressed reading it and wondered when the happiness was coming. Also a very abrupt ending with a one line Epilogue, I think that was the most disappointing part as I felt the ending was rushed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read and review this book.