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Check It Out: Seven Days of Us

Today, I’m recommending Seven Days of Us by Francesa Hornak. Making her fiction debut, Hornak has crafted a witty yet deeply heartfelt work that bestselling author Emily Giffin describes as, “an insightful, character-driven look at the real failures, fumbles, and false starts that define family—and why understanding the people closest to us might be the hardest thing in the world.”

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 paths. 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 locks himself away 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 such close quarters, 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...

Sharply funny and perfect for fans of dysfunctional family stories and cozy Christmas films like Love Actually and The Family Stone, this enjoyable read has the power to resonate with a lot of us as we navigate this magical yet sometimes outright difficult time we call “The Holidays”.

Check out Seven Days of Us and other amusing works of domestic fiction like it at the Sioux City Public Library.  

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Support comes from Avery Brothers.

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