We Live Here Now - by Sarah Pinborough

SecretWorldOfaBook
Jun 4
2 min read

Publisher: Orion

Publication date: June 5th

If their new home doesn't break them, their secrets will...

When Emily wakes from a coma following an accident that nearly kills her, she finds herself agreeing to move from London to the wild moors of Devon with her husband Freddie. A fresh start is exactly what their marriage needs.

As their car pulls up to Larkin Lodge, their dream country home, Emily's heart sinks. Outside, everything is covered in an icy gray mist. Inside, the air is filled with dust and abandonment.

And then she finds the empty suite on the second floor. A room so bleak, so cold, so void of anything good. Something bad happened in here. Someone dies in here. Why can't Freddie feel the darkness that stirs within its walls?

There's something wrong with the house, this strange house, where the floorboards creak at night, the doors rattle, the windows slam shut, the taps turn on and off - and on and off.

But if the house is hiding something, so are Emily and Freddie...

My thoughts…

I absolutely adored this book. My expectations were very high from the outset and what a haunting, beautifully unsettling read it turned out to be.

From the very first page, I was hooked by the atmosphere of the old house and the way it slowly wove itself around Emily and Freddie. The eeriness of the setting was palpable, and watching how the house affected them both, in such different ways, was chilling and captivating.

The dual perspectives worked so well. I loved being inside both Emily’s and Freddie’s heads, it added depth, nuance, and pace to the story. You can feel the emotional weight in both characters, and it made the unraveling all the more intense.

What really surprised me were the chapters from the raven’s point of view. They brought such a unique, eerie edge to the narrative 🐦‍⬛ almost heartbreaking at times - and by the end, I felt an unexpected sadness I didn’t see coming. That twist at the end? Absolutely brilliant. I had to sit with it for a moment after finishing, just to take it all in.

If you enjoy psychological thrillers with a touch of the surreal and deeply human emotion, this is one not to miss.