Seven Days of Us

The Birch family, outwardly successful but privately fractured, is forced into a week of voluntary quarantine over Christmas 2016 after the eldest daughter returns from treating a deadly virus in West Africa. Over seven days of confinement in a crumbling Norfolk manor house, long-buried secrets surface, threatening to upend the family's careful equilibrium.

The novel opens in November in Monrovia, Liberia, where Olivia Birch, a 32-year-old British doctor, volunteers to treat victims of the Haag virus epidemic. On a darkened beach, she and Sean Coughlan, an Irish pediatrician, share their first kiss, violating the strict No-Touch rule that prohibits physical contact between aid workers. Their relationship remains secret. A month later, four developments set the story in motion. Olivia's father, Andrew Birch, a sardonic restaurant critic for The World magazine, files a column explaining that when Olivia returns, the family must spend seven days confined at Weyfield Hall, a faded Norfolk manor that Olivia's mother, Emma Birch, inherited from her aristocratic family. That same day, Andrew discovers an email from Jesse Robinson, a documentary producer in Los Angeles who claims to be Andrew's biological son, born to a Lebanese woman named Leila Deeba after a one-night encounter in Beirut in 1980, when Andrew was a young war correspondent. Andrew conceals the email from Emma. Meanwhile, Emma receives a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma but resolves to tell no one, desperate not to ruin what may be her last Christmas with all four Birches together. Olivia's younger sister, Phoebe Birch, 29, accepts a proposal from her boyfriend of six years, George Marsham-Smith, though she feels more relief than elation.

Jesse, whose only confidante is his adopted younger sister, Dana, has spent a year researching Andrew online. When Andrew does not reply, Jesse books a flight to England, arriving on December 23. At Heathrow, Emma unknowingly chats with Jesse while waiting for Olivia, confiding her cancer diagnosis to this stranger. They part without exchanging names. At Weyfield, Olivia's homecoming is strained: Phoebe hugs her at arm's length, Andrew air-kisses her cheeks, and Emma fusses over food. Andrew hides a handwritten letter from Leila inside a locked briefcase in the attics, planning to burn it in the post-Christmas bonfire.

Jesse settles into a modest hotel near Weyfield. On Christmas Eve, he meets George and his siblings at a local pub. After Jesse reveals he is gay, George stays behind, and the two continue drinking at Jesse's hotel, where George kisses Jesse in the early hours before leaving without a word. That same day, Olivia reads that Sean has collapsed at Heathrow and tested positive for Haag. His condition is critical. She conceals the depth of their relationship from her family.

On Christmas morning, Phoebe accidentally discovers Emma's cancer diagnosis while browsing her mother's iPad and confronts Emma, who begs her to keep the secret. After Christmas lunch, George arrives uninvited at Weyfield, and Olivia insists he remain in quarantine with them. On Boxing Day (December 26), the family clears the attics. Olivia and Phoebe discover a childhood time capsule and share genuine laughter for the first time in years, while Andrew snatches his briefcase from Emma just before she opens it. That evening, George persuades Phoebe to break quarantine for a nearby party. Olivia follows on a bicycle, and the sisters have a fierce argument during which Phoebe blurts out that Emma has cancer, accusing Olivia of being too self-absorbed to notice. That same night, Jesse walks to Weyfield but loses his nerve at the front door and flees across the fields, cutting his palm on a barbed-wire fence.

On December 27, news reports Sean's condition as stable, bringing Olivia relief. That morning, Jesse stops at Weyfield to push a letter through the front door, which gives way under his weight. The family finds him standing in the hall. Emma insists Jesse stay, calling him family. In a private conversation, Jesse inadvertently reveals Emma's cancer to Andrew, who did not know. Andrew and Emma confront each other: He apologizes for hiding Jesse's existence; she is furious but also exposed, having kept her own secret. They reach a fragile truce. Phoebe is hostile toward Jesse, feeling her image of her father has been shattered, while Olivia is more accepting, arguing that families always contain unknown things.

Jesse's presence creates further friction. He gives Emma dubious advice about forgoing chemotherapy, alarming Olivia, who visits Andrew to ask him to intervene. Father and daughter have their most substantive conversation in years, with Andrew acknowledging that Olivia's idealism reminded him of his own abandoned ambitions as a war correspondent. George privately threatens Jesse about revealing their Christmas Eve encounter. Meanwhile, Olivia confides in Phoebe about her secret relationship with Sean. On December 28, Phoebe finds a note from George ending their relationship. Over lunch, Jesse suggests George may be confused about his sexuality; Phoebe overhears and screams at him. That evening, Andrew reveals to Olivia that his cameraman was killed in Beirut, and she sees her father in a new light. Emma discovers Leila's letter in a secret pocket of the briefcase and confronts Andrew in the cellar. Their argument escalates into a raw, cathartic fight: Emma smashes a bottle of their wedding claret, accusing Andrew of being a poor father and of forcing her to sacrifice her career. The fight breaks through decades of polite avoidance.

On December 29, the final day of quarantine, Olivia collapses in the drawing room. Jesse walks in and places her in the recovery position, clearing her airway while directing Emma to call an ambulance. Phoebe reveals to the paramedics that Olivia was in a relationship with Sean, elevating the risk. Olivia and Jesse are airlifted to London on separate Royal Air Force (RAF) planes, Jesse because his cut palm was exposed to Olivia's vomit. At the Royal Free Hospital, Olivia tests negative for Haag. The cause of her collapse: She is seven weeks pregnant with Sean's baby.

The family reconvenes at their London home. Andrew writes a final column announcing his resignation from The World, giving a restaurant his first-ever perfect rating. Olivia visits Sean at the Royal Free and tells him about the pregnancy; he whispers that the news is fantastic. Emma opens her test results with Olivia beside her, accepting her daughter's medical authority for the first time. Andrew shows Jesse the letter from Leila, and Jesse reads his birth mother's words, learning she named him Iskandar.

On New Year's Eve, Andrew and Jesse cook a Middle Eastern meal together. Shortly before midnight, a radio bulletin announces that Sean has died of a secondary infection. He was 33. Emma rushes upstairs and sits with Olivia, who lies on the bed sobbing silently. Phoebe, out on a date with Caspar, a colleague, learns the news and comes home, lying beside her sister head-to-toe as they did as children after nightmares. She tells Olivia that Sean lives on inside her through the baby, and the words shift something in Olivia's grief. Olivia comes downstairs and joins the others in the kitchen. A power cut plunges the house into darkness, and Andrew lights candles. At Olivia's prompting, he begins to tell the full story of his time as a war correspondent, something he has never shared with his family. Jesse reflects on feeling part of the family for the first time. An epilogue records the birth of Seamus Andrew Coughlan Birch on August 17, 2017, at 1:03 a.m., the same time as Olivia and Sean's first kiss on Cape Beach.