An Interview with Lisa Jewell

Longlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2023 for The Family Remains

Longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2023, Lisa Jewell joins Harrogate International Festivals and host Joe Haddow, to talk about her book, The Family Remains.

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…

A little more about the author…

Lisa Jewell was born in London in 1968.  Her first novel, Ralph’s Party, was the best- selling debut novel of 1999. Since then she has written another eighteen novels, most recently a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls, Then She Was Gone and The Family Upstairs (all of which were Richard & Judy Book Club picks).  Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters and the best dog in the world.