Seven Days of Us. Francesca Hornak. Penguin
Publishing Group. October 2017, 368 pp.; ISBN#:
9780451488756.
Olivia Birch and Sean, her new romance,
have been working in Monrovia, Liberia, treating a deadly virus, Haag, which
seems to resemble the volatile, dangerous Ebola virus. The tensions and risks seem to have drawn
them together. When they return to
England, Olivia and her family are forced into seven days of a quarantine to
make sure she doesn’t have the disease or can spread it. Unfortunately, Sean does have it and is
immediately hospitalized and quarantined as well.
Emma and Andrew Birch decide the
quarantine will be fine as it’s Christmas time and a great time to have a close
family celebration. Not surprisingly, it’s
a week of shocking revelations and conversations that seem to do nothing but
clash and then converge due to some measure of self-control and respect for the
family. Dealing with a cancer diagnosis,
discovering a son and half-brother, watching a “supposed” romance gradually
disappear, acknowledging the sacrifices made for dreams deferred, and so much
more fill these pages with alternating tension and fear. These are not loveable characters except for
Emma whose background enables her to gracefully calm almost-explosive
moments. Olivia is having
counter-culture shock on return to British life, Phoebe is snarky and jealous
of her sister Olivia, George the lover is cold and aloof, and Andrew is having
a hard time dealing with the Pandora’s box that’s opened with past secrets.
Still there are many rather sweet
moments where the better sides of this family come to the fore, especially in
moments of crisis. Seven days together
as a family would probably be a challenge for most families, but this is a
story that gives some hints about how to deal with the outrageous and minor
idiosyncrasies that emerge when human beings are forced to live in such close
proximity with very little to distract them from each other.
Ironically, this is a lovely, somewhat
contrived, contemporary fiction story which this reviewer recommends as an
interesting, compelling read!
