The Family Upstairs

On Saturday, Libby has plans to attend her friend’s barbeque. Her friend says a man whom she wants Libby to meet will be at the barbeque. Unable to stop thinking about the Chelsea mansion, Libby texts her friend that she might stop by the barbeque later and takes the train to Chelsea.

Libby walks through the mansion, thinking about the article she read about the tragic deaths that occurred inside the house. Libby stands in the kitchen and pictures the two police constables (PCs) who found Henry and Martina Lamb and the unidentified man dead in the kitchen, wearing all-black homemade clothing. The PCs had also found a suicide note on the dining room table that mentioned a baby upstairs.

Libby climbs the staircase and arrives in the yellow room with the crib in the center, where she was found by the PCs. Libby remembers how, in the article, neighbors spoke of other adults and children constantly coming and going from the house before the day of the tragedy. When the crime scene team arrived at the house, they found it “filled with untraceable bloodstains and DNA, with fibers and dropped hairs and strange notes and scribbles on walls and secret panels and a garden full of medicinal herbs, some of which had been used in her parents’ apparent suicide pact” (61).

Libby continues to wander the house and finds traces of the previous inhabitants, including dried bits of tape on the wall, a tea set, and kitchen appliances. Suddenly, she hears a mysterious thumping upstairs. Disturbed by the house’s dark history, Libby decides to leave early and attend her friend’s barbeque. Libby daydreams about selling the house, meeting the man at the barbeque, and eventually getting married and having children. 

Lucy picks her fiddle up from the repair shop and pays the repairman with the money she received from Michael. Then, Lucy, the children, and the dog go to the tourist part of town and Lucy sets up her fiddle. It is a nice night, and people are in a good mood; after a few hours, Lucy has made 70 euro.

Lucy and the children walk to The Blue House, a run-down house with a view of the Mediterranean where they were staying before becoming homeless. The original owner of the house, Giuseppe, lives on the ground floor, while the current owner rents out the other rooms. For a few weeks after her fiddle broke, Lucy wasn’t paying rent, only to discover that Giuseppe had been covering for her. Uncomfortable with that arrangement, Lucy and her children left the house without saying goodbye. As they approach the Blue House now, Lucy hopes there is a room available, and that Giuseppe isn’t angry with her.

Giuseppe is happy to see the family and welcomes them inside. He invites them into his apartment and offers them food and drinks. Giuseppe explains that the room they were renting before is no longer available, but there is another one at the back of the house that they can rent. As they talk, Lucy feels “[t]he humiliations of the last week start to wash away, like footprints on the shore. Her children are safe. There is food. She has her fiddle. She has a bed to sleep in. She has money in her purse” (68). That night, Lucy, the children, and the dog sleep together in a double bed.

During the summer of 1988, Henry asks his mother several times if they can go shopping at Harrods for his new school uniform, but she says they should wait until the end of the summer. When the family doesn’t take its usual trip to Germany, Henry realizes they are having money troubles. Meanwhile, Birdie and Justin are still living with them. Justin begins growing medicinal herbs in the garden because he doesn’t believe in prescription drugs.

Over the summer, Henry’s father has a small stroke that leaves him weak. His doctor suggests a rehabilitation physiotherapist; Birdie overhears them and says she knows someone whom she describes as “a miracle worker” (72). Shortly thereafter, the man, David Thomsen arrives at the mansion, along with his wife Sally, son Phin, and daughter Clemency. Martina explains that Sally is a teacher who will be homeschooling Henry and his sister. Henry describes Phin as “the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life” (74).

That night, David insists on taking everyone out to dinner. Henry is seated next to Phin and feels “so electrified by my proximity to him, my nerve endings so raw, my body so primed and aching for something that I was too young to even begin to understand” (76). However, seeing how weak his father appears, Henry realizes that an imbalance in the household’s power dynamic is occurring and that his father will likely be replaced.

On Monday, Libby arrives late to work. Dido is surprised because Libby is never late. Libby explains that she didn’t sleep well, and Dido gets her some coffee. Talking to Dido, Libby realizes even though she and Dido know each other really well, they have never spent time together outside of work. Knowing she wants to talk about the house and her biological family, Libby tells Dido she needs some advice, and Dido invites Libby to dinner.

That evening, Libby arrives at the beautiful cottage where Dido lives at the edge of her family’s property. As they eat, Libby tells Dido about the house, the tragedy that occurred, and the article she read online about her as a baby. Libby explains that the article said she had been born into a cult. The deaths of Martina and Henry Lamb and the third adult, whom readers can assume is David, are believed to have been a part of a cult-related suicide pact; they’d poisoned themselves using herbs from their garden. The Lambs’s other children, Libby’s assumed brother and sister, have never been heard from.

Libby tells Dido she heard a person upstairs last time she visited the house. She wonders if she should just sell the house and forget about it, but she also wants to know the truth about her biological family. Dido suggests Libby reach out to the journalist who wrote the article. Dido explains, “Just imagine how amazed he’ll be after all his months of investigative journalism to suddenly find you in his inbox. Serenity Lamb herself. Complete with the actual rabbit’s foot” (84). Together, they find the journalist’s name—Miller Roe—and his contact information.