A slightly unnerving novel which I found to make slow progress and then seemed to end when it had only just got going.
The story focusses on a Victorian townhouse on Litchfield Road, London. New owners Eleanor and Richard with their two young daughters can hardly believe their luck when they are the only family who put in an offer for the property, which they do despite a very unsettling top floor room with the words Emily scrawled over the walls and ceiling, along with macabre sketches of birds.
Zoe is taken on as a lodger to inhabit the basement rooms and so they all settle into a new chapter in their lives. None of the characters are truly happy with their lot in life which I found slightly depressing. Zoe seems to not know what she wants from life - picking the wrong men and leaving behind a perfectly good but dull well paid job. Eleanor seems to have given up her dreams of pursuing a career a long time ago and is making ends meet whilst husband Richard is taking a part time job in order to work on his Masters - something that he seems to get no further on with as he whiles away his extra time dreaming of a house makeover, which he can ill afford.
As they settle in Eleanor begins to feel nauseous and ill, her eldest daughter Rosie begins to act very oddly and Zoe begins to have terrible nightmares and sleepwalks. Richard does everything he can to ignore the goings on, trying to find every excuse he can for not blaming it on the house. Things move about and lines of pebbles appear on the doorstep. Chapters are dealt with moving between the key characters, their relationships and their feelings in connection to the house and despite strange events are not as scary as I had expected.
The story moved slowly to a conclusion which I found to be sadly a bit of a rush to reach a conclusion.

Rarely has a new author delivered such a well designed and constructed debut novel.

It is difficult to review fully without ruining the book, but I would say that there is a pleasant feeling of satisfaction at the end that the author decided to "keep it real" and not take an easy, fantastical escape route that could have been on offer.

The characters were well developed and one could empathise with them, feeling saddened when they encountered problems and happier when good things happened for them.

The conversations felt realistic and one wonders if some of the authors close friends might recall such chats.

All in all a very good novel.

"THE UPSTAIRS ROOM"
Eleanor, Richard and their two young daughters recently stretched themselves to the limit to buy their dream home, a four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in east London, in order to make a bit more cash after buying the house and a help in getting the money to decorate the house they get a lodger to live in the space in the basement a girl called Zoe, Zoe is happy to be moving into her own space as will have her own room and living room in the basement,

But after moving in Eleanor starts to notice things in the house that on many of the walls is the name Emily at first she thinks nothing of it just a young girl doing what kids do but the name seems to be on many of the walls in the house also someone is leaving stones outside the front door in a row, then the daughter Rosie starts to play up and biting Eleanor and starts talking to someone invisible she calls Girl but Richard just says its what kids do at that age then Eleanor starts to get sick but shes only sick when shes inside the house what the room upstairs "Emily's" room scares her she thinks its something to do with the house and sets out to fine out what happened the last owners of the house by asking the Neighbours.

Zoe who is living in the basement works in an art shop keeps to herself and only really goes upstairs when she knows Richard and Eleanor are out she has problems of her own she meets a guy who comes into her work she starts seeing him but he already has a girlfriend but like Eleanor Zoe feels strange when shes inside the house ..

when i first started to read this book i really had high hopes i thought i was going to get pulled in to what was in the room upstairs i thought it was going to scare me i thought i would be on the edge of my seat, but the book mainly focus on Eleanor and Richards relationship and Zoe's relationship with Adam not much was really said about the room upstairs it, it did not really go in to the background of the house you don't really get to know much about what happened to the last owners apart from a few words, even though i did like the book the story was good the writing was great but i felt that too much time was spent of the relationship's of Eleanor and Richard and Zoe and Adam and not enough time on the point of the story the room upstairs, i will read it again and ill buy few copy's for my friends, as i said i did like the book and the story it was just them few things that i was not sure of.. thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy of this book

This is, primarily, a book about the housing crisis. Don't let that put you off - but most of the characters are, in one way or another, affected by the current housing situation. It's not an obvious theme for a spooky tale (I'm resisting calling this an out and out ghost story) but it's also a portrait of a marriage, and an observation on the flighty nature of employment. Sound too much? It's mostly deftly juggled by Murray-Browne, though her characters are at times more annoying than they need to be. The main one, Eleanor, a working mother with two small girls moves into a Victorian house in need of renovation with her husband Richard. Richard is, without a doubt, one of the worst men I've ever read. He has already taken on a number of projects throughout their married life, and the house is his latest, while he also works part time and studies for an MA. Eleanor has her doubts about the house, nothing that she can put down to anything more than a gut feeling but as they try to settle in, they find the upstairs room which is full of foreboding, strange leftover objects and scribblings on the wall from 'Emily.' Eleanor's foreboding turn more serious later when the house starts to make her physically ill and has a detrimental effect on their daughter Rosie. Eleanor isn't immediately likeable but I felt for her so much as the book went on. Richard, despite seeing her illness, is still wedded to the renovation and overrides her objections. To pay for the renovations they take a lodger, Zoe, who is at a loose end in her career and her life, having broken up with her boyfriend and walked out of a job. She too is difficult to like, but if you wanted to look at representations of women acting like men - especially when it comes to fear of commitment - then Zoe is perfectly true to life. Her main concern is having regular sex, but she too feels the strange atmosphere of the house and starts to spend more time elsewhere.
I liked that it wasn't too over the top at the end and I wasn't sure how much I'd really been affected by it - until I had a sleepless night after I'd finished it. Somehow, it will get under your skin.

Richard and Eleanor sink all their savings into their dream home. But there are strange things afoot. Eleanor thinks the house is making her ill. And her daughter has gone from a little angel to a temper tantrum throwing little devil. While Richard seems to be more occupied with their lodger, Zoë, Eleanor investigates the mystery of the previous owners and why the name "Emily" is found written pretty much all over the house.

I must say, I have some serious mixed feelings about this The Upstairs Room but the overwhelming one would probably be slight disappointment. While the chapters about the house were great, there were flashback chapters about life for the inhabitants before they moved into this house and they completely ruined the flow of the story. In an odd sort of way, it almost felt as if they were written by someone else entirely.

I also didn't really feel like they added anything, other than knowing everyone was miserable and none of the characters could apparently figure out what they wanted in life. There was way too much focus on past and present relationships. At about the halfway mark, I pretty much stopped caring about them altogether. What kept me reading was the mystery surrounding the upstairs room but there were no answers or explanations as to the why, how, or what and none of it was in any way creepy enough. Just when I thought things might finally get interesting and pick up, things fell flat.

Maybe my expectations were too high but all in all,  I'm feeling quite underwhelmed by the whole thing. Even the ending didn't satisfy me one bit.

Supremely creepy in a slow-burn, nothing-concrete-to-get-hold-of manner that is far scarier than more definite horror stories. The author keeps things edgy throughout, shadows just outside our field of vision, so that the mundane is always just about to tip over into the terrifying.

Less successful are the chick-lit/relationship aspects of the book: I really wasn't interested in the married couple's past history at Oxford, or the aborted romance of the lodger.

So some teething problems with the shape of the book but the core haunted house narrative is done with huge skill - not a book to read alone at night!

I enjoyed this book and devoured it in one sitting! It creeped me out and I started to think about who live down in my house before me haha! I thought that the Main characters were okay though Zoe did get on my nerves and i didn't particularly like Richard either! I really connected with Lauren though and felt so sorry for her been in that house! I was reading with a sense of dread of what will happen next and that's rare, I think it's a great book with a good plot and storyline and a must read for anyone who enjoys been creeped out a lot!!!

Quite unsettling

Parts of this novel shook me to the point that I could only read them in broad daylight.

Eleanor and Richard are married, they have two children, and they just moved in to a new house. They got it at a good price and relatively quickly. Zoe soon moves in, as a lodger, and all seems well. Except for Eleanor: she feels uneasy and unsettled in the house. Especially the Upstairs Room. It could possibly even be reason for her catastrophic illness...

This book was incredible in regard to the writing, the actual story and the character development. I could relate to it a little, I've visited a house and noticed, during the viewings, a child's writing on the wall. They were bitter, angry and honestly quite haunting. I remember thinking do we have some responsibility to tell someone? I feel it was somewhat odd that the family didn't try to reach social services, neither did the estate agent nor, the neighbours who lived near the previous residents and witnessed the peculiar family. This little bit didn't add up.

The other thing was that the family, after seeing the name 'Emily' written in the room and every other nook and cranny, immediately believed it had been a little girl writing her name. They couldn't be sure of this at all, so it was strange they didn't question it. Eleanor concludes it was a person writing their own name, through which they were sort of charting their territory. That never crossed my mind, I'd been thinking it was a child writing the name of someone important to them, or someone they are obsessed with, someone they are angry with, or weren't willing to forget. I feel that these other ideas, and possibly more, should have perhaps been explored.

Aside from that, the story was hugely realistic and will definitely appeal to people who believe in possessed houses. I do personally, but only because it really does seem to be the only explanation, ridiculously, sometimes it is the simplest (Okham's Razor and all that) and there usually isn't any evidence to suggest otherwise. Of course, it is case by case. I've heard people claim that their car was possessed, how the wipers operate without them having done anything- which they found embarrassing when it wasn't raining....I've heard that children are able to see things that adults can't. If you get too immersed in all this, I feel it's quite easy to become convinced. I think that because there were young children involved, this story became more emotionally charged and even terrifying. I didn't want anything bad to happen.

Eleanor was definitely my favourite character in this: she was persistent in what she believed despite how ridiculous it sounded. The Upstairs Room becomes the core of the house, it's alive and seeks attention. This story cannot be ignored.

I received this book through NetGalley.

[I will post this review to Amazon UK when this book has been released.]

David Nicholls meets Hammer Horror - relationships are the focus of this atmospheric horror set in a Victorian terraced house.

Eleanor and Richard have found their dream home - but something very strange is happening. One of their children is becoming increasingly more hostile, and Eleanor is getting sicker with every hour she spends in the house.

Zoe is a young woman who accepts a room in the house as a lodger - she's at a stage in her life where she's contemplating her life and where to go next. We look at her relationships - how is the house affecting her?

Atmospheric, spooky, genuinely creepy in parts - and a great portrait of both a marriage going somewhat stale and a young woman pondering her place in the world.

Recommended.

This book is about a couple called Richard and Eleanor. They move into a Victorian house along with their two young children. Strapped for cash to do up their new home they take in a lodger called Zoe who used to work at the same firm as Richard. In the upstairs room Eleanor finds scrawls on the walls of the name Emily. Eleanor starts to feel very uncomfortable in the house. She also sees that the eldest of her two daughters is starting to be effected.

I was honestly excited to read this book and expected to get a real scare. I knew that the scare would be more psychological than anything else. But for someone who gets scared easily I didn't get scared at all. The book read more like chicklit than psychological horror. There was a lot of focus on the relationships between Richard & Eleanor and also Zoe's relationships. The ending of this book was not very satisfying. It was an okay book with some well written true to life characters but just not what I was expecting.

The beginning of ''The Upstairs Room'' reminded me of ''The Girl Before (J.P. Delaney)'' in its insistence on putting you straight into the sense of disquiet, which then lasted pretty much throughout. I was willing Eleanor to go with her gut feeling of "It didn't feel right"- I mean surely we all know that buying a house is ALL about that gut feeling - so perhaps it is no surprise when thing start to go wrong.

The house is creepy though, that much is clear, and I'd bet there aren't many people who would say they'd be happy to spend more than 5 minutes in the upstairs room and the sense of foreboding that prevails. The sense of darkness and unease that it suffers from begins to slowly transfer itself to the lives of Eleanor, Richard and Zoe, and though I grappled at times with what exactly the cause of the problem was, I couldn't escape from the idea that it was solely the house to blame. And, aside from the upstairs room it was perhaps the little things that brought the greatest sense of fear - the pebbles, the salmon skin - it all made me decidedly nervous. There was the feeling that normality was being unravelled and so I too was left wondering what on earth was happening and whether one of the inhabitants of the house was culpable for the events.

I felt nothing but sympathy for Eleanor and really wanted to shake Richard so he would acknowledge what she felt. It was infuriating that he always ignored his own doubts, seemingly at his family's expense. The way that she has Zoe were kept separate felt totally natural and unforced, and whilst I wanted them to just talk to each other, it seemed appropriate that things were left unsaid and not dealt with until the end. I had no idea where the book was going or how things were going to be rectified, but I will say that the introduction of Rebecca led to a confrontation that was really quite disturbing.

It's probably not a good book to read just before you turn off the lights for the night that's for sure! A great read.

Atmospheric, really good build up and I couldn't put it down. People have commented on the sex and being almost chick lit, I found that made the book more believable. A very good read.

Eleanor thinks her new house is making her ill. When her daughter starts seeing 'Girl' and behaving badly, and the lodger, Zoe, has nightmares and begins sleepwalking Eleanor is convinced the house is the problem. The book is full of suspense and keeps the reader engaged for most of the story but I felt it petered out a little at the end. I wanted to know more about the negative force in the house and why it was there, and I felt I wanted a better resolution than the one given. I did however think it was well written and I could visual the house and the characters clearly - and it kept me wanting to turn those pages long after I should have switched out the lights.

A Victorian townhouse, a lovely couple with two wonderful children and a young lodger are the ingredients for one of the most unnerving and disturbing novels I have read this year.

Eleanor and Richard are a nice couple who decide to buy a house in one of the most exclusive areas of London; in order to help with the expenses they rent the basement to Zoe, a young and lively girl.

What makes the plot stand out is the combination of modern day life events and the disturbing presence of something or someone in the upstairs room of the house. This townhouse slowly starts to affect the lives of all the characters in different and frightening ways: illness, strange accidents, erratic behaviour...

Kate Murray-Browne has written a psychological terror novel that will appeal to many adult readers and fans of the genre and will certainly make you think twice before buying an old house without checking who (or what) lived there before.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

AHHHHHHHH! THIS BOOK WAS CREEPY AS HELL AND I LOVED EVERY PAGE OF IT!!! I was so excited based on the blurb and had high hopes, and the book was even better than I had hoped it would be! I think it could be a very good movie as well. Thumbs way up and 5 stars!

3.5 Stars!!!
A creepy house linked with the story of a family and a lodger. It was nice to see the development of the characters and their interaction but I wish I knew more about the story of the house. I liked the eerie atmosphere, it made the house another character. It was a good read.

Eleanor, Richard, their toddler daughter Rosie and baby Isobel move into a Victorian four-bedroomed townhouse in London Fields. The purchase has been quick and smooth - too quick for Eleanor. Whilst Richard is enthusiastic about this once-in-a-lifetime investment, she immediately feels uneasy about what should be their new home. She is particularly disturbed by an "upstairs room" whose walls are covered in the obsessive scribblings left by the enigmatic "Emily", the girl who used to live there. Soon the unease turns into actual physical malaise. Eleanor succumbs to a strange illness which seems to cast a shadow not only on the young family, but also on Zoe, the lodger who takes up residence in the house's basement. Will they escape the house's evil influence before it's too late?

Kate Murray-Browne's debut novel is, first and foremost, a "haunted house" tale which exploits many tropes of the genre. There are night-time terrors, doors with a character of their own, strange writings appearing on walls and mundane objects which take on a sinister significance when they turn up in the unlikeliest of places. Little children play a central role - their vulnerability heightens the sense of danger but, as most of the novel's readers would surely know, their very sensitiveness also makes them an ideal channel for evil presences. Or so would many horror films want us to believe.

As far as ghost stories go, The Upstairs Room is not particularly original or remarkable - though it is certainly well-written and I must say the scares are carefully orchestrated. Some scenes (such as Zoe's attempt to babysit Rosie) definitely creeped me out. I also enjoyed the book's deliberate ambiguity about the nature of the "hauntings" - a feature shared with the best "psychological" ghost stories from Oliver Onion's The Beckoning Fair One to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House via James's The Turn of the Screw. The novel allows for a spectrum of readings - one may shrug off the weird events by giving them a rational, pscyhological explanation, treat them a straightforward "haunting" or seek an interpretation which combines the two.

Within the walls of this haunted house tale, however, resides a very different book - indeed, The Upstairs Room is also a hyper-realist novel which presents us with a slice of contemporary British life. It is inhabited by college and university graduates struggling to make the transition into the working world; young couples with empty bank accounts hunting for living spaces whilst undecided about "settling down"; men and women approaching middle-age who, as in Gabriele Muccino's early movies, keep rueing a youth which has just passed them by. The ghostly house becomes the unlikely symbol of the housing (and other) problems of the young and not-so-young and there are long passages (especially in the novel's third part) where the reader actually forgets that this is a supernatural yarn.

In this respect, The Upstairs Room "sister-novel" could well be Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger In that book, Waters used the "haunted house" tale as a pretext for a social novel set in the austerity of the post-war years. Murray-Browne's debut novel brings us closer to home. This is what makes it worth reading.

Excellent book. Great main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.

Deliciously Dark.

Oh this book! It drew me in immediately, the characters were so three dimensional I felt like I was walking alongside them. As their anguish grew I felt their fear, their pain as the words leapt off the page and consumed me. A sense of foreboding accompanied me as I journeyed with them to the 'upstairs room'. The terror was all my own as the book pressed down on me pervading the air around me with evil and darkness.

Reminiscent of Sharon Bolton's earlier work, this debut is one to watch. Just remember to keep on the light!

Thank you so much to the Publisher and to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Highly recommended.