Summary

The House We Grew Up In, by Lisa Jewell, begins with an email from Lorelei to Jim. She introduces herself and gives information about her family. It’s their first correspondence. It appears that Jim has contacted her first.

The next section shifts to April, 2011, where Meg, Lorelei’s oldest daughter, and her daughter Molly arrive at the house Meg grew up in and where Lorelei still lives. Molly is a teenager, and the relationship between mother and daughter is improving. The house is dilapidated, with grimy windows. They prepare themselves for the worst upon entering.

The story shifts to April, 1981, during an Easter egg hunt. It’s unseasonably warm and Meg and her sister Beth are collecting chocolate eggs. The girls are counting their eggs. Lorelei brings Rhys and Rory, her twin boys, around to continue the egg hunt. In the kitchen...