Our House
Author Bio:
The Opening:
Fi (Fiona) Isn't surprised when she sees a new family moving in on her street. It's an up-and coming neighborhood in a desirable part of town, she and her husband were lucky to get in and snap it up so far back when it was attainable on there salaries. There's no way two average Joes could afford to move in now...
But wait a minute, that's not a neighbor, that's her home! It turns out that without Fi's knowledge her husband has sold the house and disappeared. With the children. What unfolds after this opening tableau is the months leading up to this ultimate moment.
The other side of the table:
Bram just can't get a brake. Not only is he estranged from his Fi wife but one thing after another keeps falling on him. Where can he go? How can he fix things? Is there a way out?
The Structure of Our House:
Our house alternates between Bram looking back over the events leading up to the sale, and Fi recounting the months leading up to her becoming homeless via a podcast. Back and forth, the reader listens as they hurtle towards the moment in the opening pages where strangers are moving into the main character's home.
My Takeaway:
At first I was skeptical as to whether or not I could get into Our House. At first blush I thought it was simply domestic fiction, but as the pages flew and the web grew tighter and tighter around Fi and Bram I began to realize that domestic suspense was a more apt description. There were times I wanted to just shake one of the characters. Another point that hit me was how flawed the characters were. The fact that they tended to cause their own problems made me want to empathize but at the same time there were moments I just had to put Our House down or be utterly annoyed with how foolish a character could be. The level at which they are flawed, or can't see how they make their own problems made me think of The Girl on the Train to a degree. Now don't get me wrong, it's not the same, but if you like unreliable narrators, and a story that twists and turns despite, opening at the apex of the action, I think you'll get into this tale.
Who Should Read Our House?
Fans of domestic suspense,
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