Tea, Talk and Terror: Jessie Elland in Conversation with Lucy Rose about The Lamb

It’s no secret that I absolutely adored The Lamb when it was released earlier this year, you can read my review here. And I have bookseller Cat from York independent bookshop Criminally Good Books to thank for that and her solid recommendations. I shout about the shop plenty here but it really is a wonderful place so please do check it out if you are ever in the area.

So imagine my excitement when I saw that they would be hosting the author for a talk. But not only that, it would be accompanied with a cannibal themed afternoon tea! This is such a wonderful creative event idea that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

I hopped on the train and headed over to York where it was a beautiful day. There was a slight autumn crispy chill to the area but the skies were beautifully clear and the sun even made an appearance! Criminally Good Books is a short walk from the station, near the Shambles. They normally partner with other venues around the city for their event locations and this one was held at At Crux.

We arrived at 1:30pm where a feast that would make Mama proud had been laid out for us by Meg, another bookseller at Criminally Good Books who used to be a chef. We had beetroot and spinach finger sarnie, cheese teeth on toast, mushroom of the woods vol-au-vent, scones with clotted cream and blood red jam, raspberry puff faces, custard rabbit puffs and blood splatter lemon madeleines. Washed down with about 6 cups of tea – thank you so much for keeping us topped up and looked after!

Elland did a wonderful job of interviewing Rose and it was fascinating to hear more about the inspiration behind the book, her writing process, marketing buzz words and Cumbrian folklore.

I haven’t had the chance to read The Ladies Upstairs, Elland’s debut yet, but it sounds great and there’s a little more about it below:

Scullery drudge Ann longs to become a lady’s maid. Ann can’t quite remember how or when she arrived at the grand Ropner Hall, but she loathes spending her days toiling in the dank kitchen.

When a chance meeting with Ropner’s Lady Charlotte leads to the opportunity to become her personal maid, Ann is convinced she has finally escaped her own version of hell. But has she? As Ann’s new life above stairs takes a sinister twist, will it turn out that the terrors lurking up there are worse than the devils she knows below?