(The novel is tender, funny, relatable and life-affirming. Review by Illa Thompson)
Typically, prolific British writer, Jojo Moyes, places interesting, complex, flawed women at the centre of her slew of easy, page-turning novels.
Her stories are told with a strongly female voice, and
mostly focuses on small, beautiful-told family and community-affirming stories.
Her latest offering, We
All Live Here, once more celebrates an outspoken, likeable woman, and the
people in her orbit. It examines the manifestation of grief, the notion of
forgiveness and the intricacies of families.
Lila is a writer. When we meet her, she has recently been
basking in the success of her latest book – about how to nurture a successful
marriage. While the bestseller is still
flying off the bookshop shelves, beloved hubby Dan, files for divorce. The deep
implications of her now broken family impacts on her professionally as well as
personally. News of the divorce follows too recently after the death of Lila’s
feisty mother, enveloping the household in grief, anguish and heartache.
Moyes cocoons her stories in a strong sense of place – much of the story takes place in and around Lila’s home. One can easily picture her house, with the ample garden and its central ancient tree; one feels the suffocation of too much furniture, belongings and sentimental stuff which comes with the arrival of extended family members; and one sees the tightly choreographed dance Lila does around the needs and foibles of all the people who have descended onto her doorstep and their interactions with her nuclear family - two daughters… and her bad-tempered boisterous dog.
Many of Moyes’ novels have parallel stories running concurrently, weaving together tales from past and present. We All Live Here is all told in the present, but with different voices. Each family member gets a turn to explain their worldview, and it is the various perceptions which get woven together like different threads in an intimate tapestry.
Moyes is one of my consistently favourite authors. I just love her writing, characters and subject matter. She deftly connects lives and finds commonality among seemingly disparate people - through an old letter, or a portrait painting, or a shared experience.
The novel is tender, funny, relatable and life-affirming. If you like the work of Jodi Picoult; Victoria Hislop; Kristin Hannah; Ann Patchett; Liane Moriarty or Maeve Binchy, you could give Jojo Moyes a try.
A multi-award-winning author of probably more than two dozen books, she is probably best known for Me Before You sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and was made into a mainstream film.
Moyes’s narrative is neither particularly challenging or complex, but it is not one-dimensionally naïve either. It is like eating a bowl of perfectly-made custard while lying on the couch on a Saturday afternoon – comforting and wholesome, not quite a box of guilty midnight pleasures, but not a healthy salad with lentils and microgreens either.
A notable bonus is, her books are well laid out, the words have plenty of space in which to breathe, and the writing is of a decent size – all of which are considerations for tired, end of day eyes. - Illa Thompson
We All Live Here is published by Penguin Random House, 2025