Alix was known for a series of popular Podcasts called “All Woman” about successful local women, but it was time for something fresh and new. So when she “accidentally” bumps into her “birthday twin” again, a few days later, and Josie suggests that she might be an interesting subject, because Alix can follow her AS she changes her life instead of after someone has ALREADY done so, Alix decides to record a “test session” to see how it goes. What about a shared birthday might make you feel bonded to someone? Would you feel a sense of connection and intrigue the way Josie and Alix do? Why do you think Josie imbues this relatively ordinary coincidence with so much importance and meaning? Gloriously dark, so clever and completely addictive - this is Lisa Jewell at the very top of her game. This book kept me up reading late into the night and haunted my dreams!" LUCY FOLEY

What becomes of this unwanted house guest? That’s the mystery, and it’s a good one! This started very slow for me, and I wasn’t sure I was going to like it, but once Alix’s podcast about Josie got underway, things started to get juicy! The full-cast audiobook narrators did a wonderful job capturing the personalities at play. Josie’s flat, subdued voicing performed by Nicola Walker added a particular menace to things. She creeped me out! Lots of short, punchy chapters, interspersed with a Netflix documentary and podcast extracts, all make for a very fast-paced read. You know bad shit has happened from the start, maybe reeeaaaaalllly bad shit, but I didn't have a clue what, exactly, had gone down, and I was desperate to find out.It’s never challenging to be inside the heads of the weird characters, some of my favorite characters to write have been the oddest and the most innerving (Noelle from Then She Was Gone, Henry from The Family Upstairs, Freddie in Watching You, Owen in Invisible Girl, Lorelei in The House We Grew Up In). These kinds of characters tend to write themselves, and in fact I find the more grounded, relatable characters much harder to write about because there’s less elasticity to them, less propensity to surprise and confound, fewer places, ultimately, to go with them. I adored being inside Josie’s head, and it wasn’t until I got to the very end that I realized that her head was actually broken. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home. Shortly after, they bump into each other again outside of the school that Alix's children currently attend, and Josie's attended years ago.

As I was writing up the summary, I realized how many there were. Yes, some of the interview transcripts were after the fact, but Josie was stealing things on camera. She was sneaking around. Her own mother said she was a liar. Nathan didn’t like her. She was clearly trying to undermine Alix’s marriage and get Nathan out of the way. Was Josie’s plan to confess to Alix about covering up Brooke’s murder (she does present this idea to Walter, but he rejects the idea. Is this why she kills him? Imagine if Lisa Jewell had chosen a different narrative structure from this novel and only told it from one point of view. What would the reading experience be like if you only had Alix’s or Josie’s POV? What might you gain and what might you lose from only one woman’s perspective?

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As they are chatting, Josie, who has listened to Alix's podcast, pitches an idea to her. Alix should do a podcast focusing on Josie's life. As Alix uncovers more unsettling details about Josie, she continues the podcast interviews without intervening. Do you think Alix should have taken action? How might the outcome have changed if she had? Alix and Josie bump into each other for the first time in the bathroom of a local pub, coincidentally on the day they were both turning 45. They were birthday twins!

In 2019, “Birthday Twins” Alix Summers and Josie Fair meet for the first time on their forty–fifth birthday in a pub where they have both come to celebrate- Alix with her husband and friends and Josie with her husband.First off, I am the last person to be excited by the premise of a true crime podcast/documentary/Netflix show etc. But WOWZA. If Jewell wanted to shelve novel writing and jump into screenwriting TOMORROW, I think she could do it. The Netflix show ABOUT the podcast is cleverly and neatly interspersed into the narrative, and I kid you not, every time one of these sections popped up, I could almost SEE the drama unfolding before me. Rather than a plot device, it felt like an evocative and intriguing way to leave a tiny trail of breadcrumbs throughout the story to keep you dying for more detail, more insight, and that next provocative interview. Needless to say, if this were a real Netflix documentary... UTTERLY bingeable. This story had me gripped throughout but I feel the ending let the book down a little. It was too contrived, and I failed to appreciate what drove this woman to do the things she did. I also enjoy more analysis when taking on difficult subjects and wanted a better ending for Roxy and Erin. The story behind Walter was left vague for me and didn’t conclude on the various aspects of his life and actions. Did he marry a much younger girl or was he guilty of ‘grooming’ her??. I settled on the former in the absence of any more detail. Even that was weird though.

What was your initial reaction to the scene in which Josie screams at and slaps Walter? After knowing the ending, how do you now understand their dynamics? Interspersed between chapters are interviews filmed for a Netflix series called “The Birthday Twin.” These tidbits add another layer to the events, but the snippets don’t show the whole of the situation until the end when the truth is finally revealed. SE: This book has multiple layers of storytelling. There’s the narrative, but then there’s also the podcast that Josie and Alix do, and interspersed throughout the book are scenes from a Netflix show based on the podcast. Why did you decide to write the story in that way? Whilst celebrating her 45th birthday at the local pub with family and friends, Alix is approached by a woman in the restroom who introduces herself as Josie Fair and tells her that they’re ‘birthday twins’ as it’s her 45th birthday too.

Lisa Jewell

With so many versions of events, the ending shatters, leaving readers to decide whose is the truth…[it’s] hard to look away from.” —Kirkus Alix’s life and marriage is far from perfect, and Josie likes to call her out on the situation. By the time Alix feels unease, Josie has wormed her way into Alix’s life and home, with repercussions that are unforeseeable and devastating.