The House We Grew Up In

Lorelei is the book’s central character. She has one living sister, Pandora, and her sister Athena was stillborn. Her father was aggressive, and Lorelei endured sexual abuse from a family friend. As a result, she started collecting items, including her family members’ hair. Lorelei marries Colin and starts a family because she wants to create childhoods different from her own. They have four children: Megan, Bethan, Rory, and Rhys. However, this project is not enough to heal her trauma, and her hoarding and childlike behavior continue into parenthood.

These behaviors become increasingly problematic after Rhys’s death and when Vicky moves out. She becomes increasingly isolated as her children move away, and her collections become intrusive, covering most surfaces in her home and preventing her from using her bathroom and kitchen. She begins to change when she meets Jim Lipton online, and his friendship and compassion allow her to open up for the first time. Lorelei is a static character for most of the book but develops rapidly during this correspondence, getting rid of items for the first time in decades and making plans to leave the house. In the end, she begins healing from her trauma but dies from tuberculosis without having reconciled with her family.