Prepare to be hooked: nail-biting suspense from the addictive number one million-copy bestselling author.

Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can't quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix's life - and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, her life and her family's lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

This is the unforgettable story about a family with a secret at its core, from Top Ten bestseller Lisa Jewell.

Imagine a picture-book cottage in a village. A family in a sun-drenched kitchen filled with love and laughter. Picture an Easter weekend when tragedy strikes - so unexpected, so devastating that no one can talk about it.

The years pass; the children become adults. Gradually they lose touch as the secret between them tears them apart. And then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in - and to what really happened that Easter weekend all those years ago.

A cold case. An abandoned mansion. A family hiding a terrible secret. Prepare to be hooked. Lisa Jewell's latest thriller is her best yet.

Midsummer 2017: teenage mum Tallulah heads out on a date, leaving her baby son at home with her mother, Kim. At 11pm she sends her mum a text message. At 4.30am Kim awakens to discover that Tallulah has not come home. Friends tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a pool party at a house in the woods nearby called Dark Place. Tallulah never returns.

2018: walking in the woods behind the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started as a head-teacher, Sophie sees a sign nailed to a fence. Then she sees a sign that says: DIG HERE...

*Hardback out 20th July 2023* Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for Alix's series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Alix agrees to a trial interview. Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can't quite resist the temptation to keep digging. Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix's life - and into her home. Soon she begins to wonder who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

PREPARE TO BE HOOKED . . .
 
Early morning: on the foreshore of the river Thames, a bag of bones is discovered. Human bones.

DCI Samuel Owusu quickly sends the bag for forensic examination. The bones are those of a young woman, killed by a blow to the head many years ago.

Also inside the bag is a trail of clues which lead DCI Owusu to a mansion in Chelsea where thirty years previously three people lay dead, while a baby upstairs waited for someone to pick her up.

Four deaths. An unsolved mystery. A family whose secrets can't stay buried for ever.

'I swear I didn't breathe the whole time I was reading it. Gripping, pacy, brilliantly twisty.' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'Creepy, intricate and utterly immersive: an excellent holiday read.' GUARDIAN 'A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption.' IAN RANKIN ____________________________ FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THEN SHE WAS GONE In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up. In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note. They've been dead for several days. Who has been looking after the baby? And where did they go? Two entangled families. A house with the darkest of secrets. A compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell. ____________________________ 'Rich, dark and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunnit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.' RUTH WARE 'You don't read a Lisa Jewell book, you fall into it. It takes huge talent to establish a whole world in the turn of two pages.' ERIN KELLY 'I had an unrelentingly pleasurable and thrilling for-God's-sake-tell-me-what-happened sensation in my stomach for the entire read ... Stupendous!' RUTH JONES 'Absolutely brilliant. Great characterisation, a fascinating and dark set up and a great conclusion. She's always great but this is next level stuff.' SARAH PINBOROUGH 'Few writers of psychological suspense devise such swift, slippery plots; fewer still people their stories with characters so human and complex. Lisa's Jewell's The Family Upstairs glitters like a blade and cuts even deeper.' AJ FINN 'Whenever I pick up a Lisa Jewell novel I know I'm in for a compelling, immersive and unputdownable read and The Family Upstairs is one of her very best' CL TAYLOR 'I had hoped to save The Family Upstairs for my holiday, but failed miserably ... I was hooked from the first page. I think it's her best yet and hands down my favourite book so far this year.' ALICE FEENEY 'Utterly compelling. Deliciously dark and twisty with characters who live on in your head. Lisa Jewell just keeps getting better and better.' JANE CORRY 'This is my pick of the crop of thrillers out this month ... Lisa Jewell is brilliant at creating a menacing atmosphere and this is almost unbelievably tense at times.' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'It's absolutely bloody brilliant and I can't tell you much I wish I'd written it.' TAMMY COHEN 'It's SO GOOD!' INDIA KNIGHT 'I loved The Family Upstairs!' SARAH JESSICA PARKER ____________________________ Readers are obsessed with The Family Upstairs: 'I read so many books in the crime/mystery genre that it becomes harder to find a book that stands out. This one succeeded!! Hooked from page one' 'I totally adored this book. All of Lisa Jewell's books are fabulous, but something about this one is extra special.' 'Absolutely absorbing ... thoroughly enjoyed it' 'Kept me captivated from the very beginning ... Definitely worth reading - as long you like reading into the night!' 'Everything you could wish for in a book. I devoured it.' 'Wow!!' 'What a book. Clever would be an understatement. And those last pages left me with chills. The concept had me intrigued and the execution had me captivated. I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!'

PREPARE TO BE HOOKED . . . * #1 UK SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * * A NEW YORK TIMES BSETSELLER * * OVER 2,000 5 STAR REVIEWS * 'I was ENTHRALLED. Empathetic, gripping, authentic' Gillian McAllister 'A GRIPPING read. Superb!' Shari Lapena 'The story EVERYONE has been waiting for.' Adele Parks 'Fast-paced, cleverly plotted. GRIPS from first page to last' Paula Hawkins 'Artful, slippery, HUGELY SATISFYING. A rare treat awaits!' Louise Candlish ___________ LONDON. Early morning, June 2019: on the foreshore of the river Thames, a bag of bones is discovered. Human bones. DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene and quickly sends the bag for forensic examination. The bones are those of a young woman, killed by a blow to the head many years ago. Also inside the bag is a trail of clues, in particular the seeds of a rare tree which lead DCI Owusu back to a mansion in Chelsea where, nearly thirty years previously, three people lay dead in a kitchen, and a baby waited upstairs for someone to pick her up. The clues point forward too to a brother and sister in Chicago searching for the only person who can make sense of their pasts. Four deaths. An unsolved mystery. A family whose secrets can't stay buried for ever ... ___________ 'Twisty and strange and surprising' EMILY HENRY 'Dark menace, consummate plotting. A sheer PLEASURE to read' HARRIET TYCE 'This is perfection on a page.' ALICE FEENEY 'A riveting, rollicking read, guaranteed to send your blood pressure soaring' RED MAGAZINE 'It's a triumph. Brava!' ERIN KELLY 'Compulsive, gripping and immersive.' CL TAYLOR 'Lisa Jewell is, simply, outstanding.' ALEX MARWOOD 'Compelling, ingenious, breath-stopping.' TAMAR COHEN 'A witty and propulsive stunner of a novel.' KATHERINE HEINY 'This is Lisa Jewell at her absolute best. I loved it!' PAUL BURSTON 'A compulsive, dark, satisfying tale that will pick you up and refuse to put you down.' CATHERINE STEADMAN ___________ Readers can't get enough of The Family Remains . . . ***** 'There's nothing about this book that I would change. Seriously.' ***** 'My expectations were high and this still managed to surpass them.' ***** 'The writing is outstanding from start to finish and it's an engrossing read.' ***** 'I could not put it down and loved the surprises and twists.' ***** 'Lisa Jewell can write one hell of a thriller!!'

THE BESTSELLING PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE AND TOP RICHARD & JUDY SELECTION. She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone. Ten years on, Laurel has never given up hope of finding Ellie. And then she meets a charming and charismatic stranger who sweeps her off her feet. But what really takes her breath away is when she meets his nine-year-old daughter. Because his daughter is the image of Ellie. Now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back. What really happened to Ellie? And who still has secrets to hide? _________________ OVER 1,000 5* REVIEWS - this is why readers love this book: 'Grips to the point of OBSESSION' 'My life STOPPED while I read this book' 'My heart was THUMPING in my chest' 'This is EDGE OF YOUR SEAT reading' 'This book left me BREATHLESS' 'Cancel all plans and BUY THIS BOOK'

YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WATCHING 'Page one intrigued me. Page three hooked me. By page five, I was consumed. This compulsive, propulsive novel is both a seize-you-by-the-throat thriller and a genuinely moving family drama. Stellar.' - A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window _______________ You're back home after four years working abroad, new husband in tow. You're keen to find a place of your own. But for now you're crashing in your big brother's spare room. That's when you meet the man next door. He's the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive. You find yourself watching him. All the time. But you never dreamed that your innocent crush might become a deadly obsession. Or that someone is watching you. _______________ Family secrets, illicit passion and an unexplained murder? It can only be the gripping new novel from Lisa Jewell, #1 bestselling author of Then She Was Gone. _______________ 'I was totally gripped by this excellent psychological thriller. Set in Bristol, it opens with a dead body, then moves into the head of Joey, a newly-married 27-year-old who gets a sudden crush on one of her new neighbours, which quickly becomes obsessive. Hugely enjoyable.' - Marian Keyes, author of The Break 'If you only pick one summer read this year, make it Watching You. I inhaled it in one sitting. A gripping plot, characters you love but can't trust, and a thumping emotional heart, Lisa Jewell has done it again.' - Sarah Pinborough, author of Behind Her Eyes and 13 Minutes 'If you loved The Woman in The Window and The Girl on the Train then this is for you!' - the Hotlist, U Magazine 'Then She Was Gone was my favourite thriller last year and this is even better. Brilliantly plotted and impossible to put down, it kept me guessing until the very end.' - Alice Feeney, author of Sometimes I Lie 'She's done it again! Lisa Jewell has penned the page-turner of the summer. Emotionally-engrossing and utterly compelling, with a mystery that keeps you gripped until the last heart-wrenching page.' - Tammy Cohen, author of They All Fall Down 'Jewell writes wonderfully engaging characters who weave plausibly tangled webs and the whodunit was largely incidental until the closing pages. She masterfully draws all her threads together, throwing in some cunning twists for good measure...The countdown is on for the next Lisa Jewell novel.' - Daily Express 'A finely drawn domestic thriller.' - India Knight

FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THEN SHE WAS GONE

In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.

In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.

They’ve been dead for several days.

Who has been looking after the baby?

And where did they go?

Two entangled families.
A house with the darkest of secrets.
A compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell.

Everyone has secrets. What if you can't remember yours? 'Fresh and intriguing, with characters so real I ached for them. I loved I Found You' Clare Mackintosh 'I LOVED I Found You. A proper thriller with wonderful characters' Sabine Durrant _______________ Two women. Twenty years of secrets. And a man who doesn't remember anything. Or does he? Lily has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night, she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Alice finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement, she invites him into her home. But who is he, and how can she trust a man who has lost his memory? _______________ Readers love I FOUND YOU . . . ***** 'Wow! I loved this book. A fantastic psychological suspense novel.' ***** 'This book had EVERYTHING!!! I enjoyed this very, very much.' ***** 'Lisa Jewell never lets me down ever. A great book with an ending you may not be expecting.' ***** 'This is my favourite novel by this author so far.' ***** 'For fast paced suspense, well developed characters, and a great story, it just doesn't get any better than this!' _______________ Praise for Lisa Jewell . . . 'I read it all in one sitting' COLLEEN HOOVER 'I loved The Family Upstairs!' SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'Gripping' OLIVIA COLMAN 'Enthralling' RUTH WARE 'Engrossing' IAN RANKIN 'Twisty' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'Excellent' GUARDIAN 'Stupendous' RUTH JONES 'Brilliant' SARAH PINBOROUGH 'Unputdownable' C.L. TAYLOR

After her grandmother Arlette's death, Betty is finally ready to begin her life. She had forfeited university, parties, boyfriends, summer jobs--all the usual preoccupations of a woman her age--in order to care for Arlette in their dilapidated, albeit charming home on the English island of Guernsey. Her will included a beneficiary unknown to Betty and her family, a woman named Clara Pickle who presumably could be found at a London address. Now, having landed on a rather shabby street corner in '90s Soho, Betty is determined to find the mysterious Clara. She's ready for whatever life has to throw her way. Or so she thinks . . .
In 1920s bohemian London, Arlette De La Mare is starting her new life in a time of postwar change. Beautiful and charismatic, she is soon drawn into the hedonistic world of the Bright Young People. But two years after her arrival in London, tragedy strikes and she flees back to her childhood home and remains there for the rest of her life.
As Betty navigates the ups and downs of city life and begins working as a nanny for a rock star tabloid magnet, her search for Clara leads her to a man--a stranger to Betty, but someone who meant the world to her grandmother. Will the secrets of Arlette's past help Betty find her own way to happiness in the present?
A rich detective story and a captivating look at London then and now, "Before I Met You" is an unforgettable novel about two very different women, separated by seventy years, but united by big hearts and even bigger dreams.