The Ladie Upstairs by Jessie Elland. This is all a bit weird and Ann ends up working in a house with no idea how she got there and things don’t get any more clear. It’s not for the faint of heart and I’m not even sure what the entire plot was but here we are. Gross.

This book is weird but beautiful. It explores womanhood. I loved how descriptive this was! It was eerie and atmospheric. There's obsession. It's almost like a fever dream.
The cover is beautiful!
Deffo a read you need if you love all of these things.

This was fascinating and confusing and completely bonkers. It leaves you with more questions than it answers. It's completely off putting at parts but you can't actually put it down. Our main character is an awful person but at the same time her need to get out of awful circumstances and the parasocial/stalker relationship she develops are so disturbingly relatable.

There's no way to describe the plot of this book in a way that would shade light into the actual experience of reading it. There are twists and turns at every stage that feel like they almost don't make sense but at the same time they wrap up on such a compelling story.

Definitely recommended for fans of unsettling horrors that don't give you all the answers.

Such an intense and atmospheric read! Although it's perhaps a bit of an acquired taste - this book has an unlikable main character, dense, meandering prose, and not all loose ends get tied up. If body horror, the "setting as a character" trope, and unhinged women are your thing then don't miss this one! It wasn't exactly what I was expecting after reading the blurb; there was no mention of the religious themes and I got the impression it'd be more plot-driven than it is.

Ann is obsessive about purity and avoiding all sin, treating it as a contagion that could spread to her from the other downstairs servants, who she despises even more than she despises herself. In contrast, the nobility of the Duchess and her niece, Lady Charlotte, in Ann's mind reflects their perfect purity and so she longs to join their world and show her devotion to serving them personally.

This was so close to being 5 stars, but it didn't quite stick the ending for me. Some of the secondary characters seemed like they had larger role to play in the narrative that was never quite explained and I felt a little disappointed that those mysteries weren't revealed. I'd have liked just a bit more exposition!

I would recommend avoiding this novel if you are sensitive to themes surrounding eating disorders, self-harm, and sexual assault.

Love love love this! Soon as I saw the blurb was Lucy rose I m ew it’d be good. A very unhinged woman if a novel!

DNF at 45%
I had such high expectations for this book. The premise was so interesting, and creepy and dark. But unfortunately I had to DNF. I was having the hardest time picking it up. The descriptive atmosphere was great, but got repetitive really quick, and it felt like absolutely nothing was happening the entire time. I tried to push through it, but getting near half of the book and still not getting any of my attention was reason enough to stop.

This was such a dark and disturbing read, as life upstairs definitely wasn't as glamorous as she imagined and sinister secrets become unravelled.

Debut British novelist Jessie Elland sets her historical horror work in the house and grounds of Ropner. We begin below stairs with a staff who barely know who they are working for, the kitchens are full of rumour and assumptions made from the glimpses of portraits seen as they go about their work. This staff are quite the gallery of grotesques, finding ways to humiliate and abuse each other. Attempting to put herself aside from such disturbing behaviour is Ann, who cannot remember a time before Ropner and is full of hatred for everyone in it. This is until she encounters her first person from upstairs, Lady Charlotte. This fires an obsession as Ann yearns to become a lady’s maid before those below stairs cause her downfall. Is the role all it is cracked up to be or is it just a different kind of nightmare?
The author really lays on atmosphere (too?) thickly, the characters, house and grounds all tend to have a queasy over-ripeness about them, everything feels on the verge of rotting and there seems to be blood clots everywhere. Ann’s response to most things is disgust. The introduction of Lady Charlotte does stem this for a while but I think I would have preferred a stronger balance of light and shade because such continual over-blown language does at time get a little wearisome. I wonder if a stronger sense of location and time would have helped as it is difficult to fix Ropner in the imagination.
Plot-wise, there are some admirable moments through the hallucinatory atmosphere but towards the end I got the feeling that things might end up seeming unresolved and I do think this is the case. I didn’t want to end this book feeling confused. There is no doubt that this novel packs a punch. I am beginning to think that the older I get the less this visceral type of horror appeals but I do rather think my younger self would really be singing the praises for this. Don’t pick it up if you are expecting any kind of “Bridgerton” vibe but do if obsessive, feverish horror is your thing.

The Ladie Upstairs is published by Baskerville, the crime and thriller imprint of John Murray on 22nd May 2025. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I had been so excited for this book for ages. Everything about it shouted like my kind of book. The cover was attractive, the title witty, and the characters sounded really interesting and the synopsis was interesting too.

However, I really couldn't get into the story or the characters because of the way it was written. In my honest opinion, I felt like the author had just learned what a metaphor or simile was and was determined to put them in every single sentence. And so I was distracted by trying to figure out what each sentence actually said rather than focus my attention on the story itself. So I'm not really about to recommend this because I can't really say if it was a good story or not.

This was a very strange and unsettling book. It features Ropner Hall, the requisite Gothic mansion with its simmering tensions between the Downstairs servants and bizarre Upstairs gentry. Ann, the main character and unreliable narrator,, sees the house and her fellow staff as rotting and trying to infect her with their sin and evil. She has her sights set on becoming a personal maid of Ladie who lives upstairs and, for her personifies innocence and beauty. So far so good but then I felt I lost the plot, there was some very good writing and imagery that will stay with me for some time, but I wanted a bit more - maybe a bit of an explanation, or perhaps I just missed all the clues.
I will look out for further books by this author though.
Thank you to netgalley and John Murray press for an advance copy of this book.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity.

DNF at 37%

Ann is a scullery drudge at Ropner Hall, a grand estate owned by “The Duchess” and her niece, Lady Charlotte.

By the 9% mark I was still unable to tell who Ann is, where she came from, or why is she the way she is. But one can tell that she is obsessed with her fancy employers, the duchess and the lady. She is also a religious zealot, an unreliable narrator who hates her fellow employees at Ropner and thinks herself better than them. She is especially envious of her roommate, Petra, who is Lady Charlotte’s personal maid, and thinks of her as an unrepentant whore unworthy of her lofty position as a “Lady’s Maid”. Anne is so classist it is almost hilarious at certain points.

Ann finally gets her wish and is chosen to become Lady Charlotte’s maid, but one has be careful what they wish for.

This book is described as a fever dream but I don’t think this justifies overwriting certain scenes until I felt dazed and confused by the excessive descriptions. And the sudden jumps in the plot left me thinking “what the hell is going on?” a couple of times.

The Hall is also suspicious; is it haunted? Is it sentient? Does it control the lives of people who live in it?

Ann is often is detestable character with zero redeeming qualities, but why is that? I wouldn’t be able to tell you because I had to DNF at the 37% mark. Also, the fatphobia in the book is inexcusable and unnecessary.

I want to thank the publisher as I received an ARC via NetGalley for review. The cover and synopsis caught my eye straight away, and this was a very quick horror read that I flew through while traveling.

Ann is a maid at Ropner, and she feels a strong sense of revulsion towards the other servants. In contrast, the Ladie is seen as good and perfect. When Ann gets to be a maid upstairs her life at Ropner changes dramatically, as does the Ladie’s. No one can quite remember how they got to this place, nor is it clear what is real and what is not.

The descriptions were really visceral and at times it was quite uncomfortable to read. The atmosphere of Ropner was so creepy and the setting itself was fascinating. This was actually really difficult to read at times both because of the themes and the actual writing and language.

The main character, Ann, has a very distinct voice. This is definitely a great example of an unreliable narrator, and this is not true just for Ann but also Charlotte. There is a lot of imagery to do with sin, rot, nature, and food. It is unclear what is real and what is not, especially as the story progresses, and there is so much that is unknown.

I feel we didn’t quite see enough of the surrounding characters. The Duchess started to come into the story more but I felt a lack of depth there, as well as with Mrs Hardy. As for the other servants, I also found it hard to understand Rachel’s role.

Given the description of the book, I expected there to be some form of sapphic relationship, which was not the case. Infatuation and obsession were certainly themes, but I think I was predicting something slightly different in the relationship between Ann and Charlotte. This doesn’t matter per se, I just wanted to mention my assumptions.

The beginning did start out a bit slow, and I found it somewhat repetitive. The writing style was a bit intense and took some time to get used to. The end also had repetitive elements, but in that section I felt it really worked and linked very closely to the story. Generally, the pacing worked better for me in the second half and I was really gripped.

I don’t expect horror books to explain everything - in fact, it can sometimes ruin a book. However, I wish the end was slightly longer with a bit more to tie everything together. So much crazy stuff happened and I’d be lying if I said I understood it all. A lot of the elements were captivating, but some parts were too confusing or open ended.

I saw a few other reviews mention this, but there were a few scenes of sexual assault early on in the book which could have been mostly omitted as personally I found them too gratuitous. I can see why some parts fit into the story, but equally other points were dwelled on a bit too much I think.

I’d definitely check out trigger warnings before reading as it could get quite graphic and there was a lot of language to do with self revulsion, as well as derogatory descriptions of other characters. While this didn’t quite live up to my expectations, the book was very intriguing overall and I found the second half in particular very captivating, as well as the general atmosphere.

“Ropner Hall was cold and distant and unloving. Yet it filled Ann with the unnerving desire to impress, to respect and worship it. Because, without a doubt, it watched…”

I have to start by praising Jessie Elland’s writing style. She immediately draws you into the gothic fairytale with immersive, hypnotic language. Then alongside the main character, Ann, you experience the suffocation and confusion that Ropner Hall creates. I’ve seen The Ladie Upstairs described as a sensory read by other readers and this sums it up perfectly. As Ann becomes more removed from the servants’ quarters downstairs and further immersed in life upstairs, there are plenty of twists and sinister moments that await.

This is the perfect read for those looking for an unsettling, gothic horror story. Fans of Mona Awad would enjoy this too I’d imagine!

Thank you to John Murray Press and Netgalley for my arc in exchange for an honest review

CW: Sexual assualt, eating disorder, gore

<b>The Ladies Upstairs</b> is a deliciously unsettling debut that drips with dread, class tension, and eerie elegance. At the center is Ann, a scullery maid with delusions of grandeur and a pitch-black view of the world below stairs. She worships the mistress of the house - the elusive, untouchable “Ladie upstairs” - and sees herself not as a servant, but as someone destined for something greater. When an opportunity arises to move closer to this imagined life, Ann seizes it - only to find that Ropner Hall is rotting from the inside out.

What makes this debut sing is the writing. It’s lush, grotesque, fairy-tale strange. Moments shimmer with ethereal beauty only to dissolve into horror. I often felt like I was reading something conjured from the minds of Mona Awad or early Angela Carter - writing that evokes a visceral reaction. It’s rare to find a novel that disturbs not because of what it describes, but because of how it describes it. That’s the real power here.

The narrative resists predictability at every turn. Just when I thought I had a handle on what kind of story this was, it shapeshifted. There were multiple points where I imagined the ending going in a dozen directions - none of which were what the book ultimately delivered. And yet, it all made perfect, elegant sense in the end.

A note of caution: the book includes mention of sexual abuse. While it’s not gratuitous, I did feel these moments weren’t always fully integrated into the arc and could have been explored with more nuance or weight.

Still, this is a fierce, strange, confident debut. Recommended for readers who love weird fiction, gothic horror, and disorienting literary tales - especially fans of Mona Awad, Ottessa Moshfegh, or Kathe Koja.

The Ladie Upstairs was a twisted Gothic fever dream of a book. It will stay with you long after the final page.

Elland packs a punch in this stunner of a debut. It is bizarre and weird and entirely disorientating. It feels timeless, in a vacuum you can’t pull yourself out of. I loved the writing which was both sumptuous and disgusting. The two spheres of upstairs and downstairs are clearly defined for Ann with the downstairs full of gross imagery and sin. My skin crawls reflecting on some of these passages. Elland’s writing is beautiful but makes you shiver and feeling deeply unnerved. It is the type of horror that seeps into your skin.

I loved its twist on a Gothic period drama that slowly builds the tension and sense of something being deeply wrong. From very early on, there are clear stakes and a sense of danger but it descends in absolute chaos. The omnipresent narrator doesn’t help matters with some cryptic clues early on. Elland also did something I adore in Gothic fiction, where the setting very much becomes its own character. Ropner Hall is this crumbling mansion, a rememberance of past glory and the bloodshed used to finance it all. It is all very classic Gothic beats but with a wonderful twist. At the centre of it all is Ann who is deeply scornful and judgemental of those around her, seeing them as mired in sin and scandal. She dreams of the life she could have upstairs, being infatuated with the beautiful Lady Charlotte. The story that unfolds from there is one of hunger, ambition, classism and skin-crawling disgust. It is unusual, full of fear and fascination in equal measure. Go into knowing as little as you can and let the nightmare unfold around you.

The Ladie Upstairs is an incredibly strong debut and I will be keenly looking to see what Elland does next.

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?

I struggled with this. I found the story hard to follow and the writing is much too flowery for me. It’s overwritten and I didn't like the characters very much. Sorry but I didn't enjoy it. Not for me.

The Ladies Upstairs is a gothic fever dream. Full of grotesque almost hallucinatory prose, the writing is sometimes convoluted which makes it difficult to follow.
Ann, a lowly scullery maid gets promoted to the most coveted position of Lady Charlotte’s personal maid. What follows is a dark look into human desires with some supernatural elements.

This is an uncomfortable read with a more psychological impact that makes it a good horror.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere of the novel which was fantastic became overshadowed by the ambiguity of the story for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Thank you to John Murray Press and Netgalley for a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

Was so excited for this one and but it was disappointing, the writing sometimes felt like the prose rambled on. It was lost on me, I guess I just didn't get it.

A gothic and unnerving novel about a woman who becomes obsessed with the lady of the house, hoping to be her personal maid. I loved the premise, loved the writing style, and loved the claustrophobic atmosphere - all of which made this very tense and engaging. The imagery was absolutely stunning and I found myself highlighting so many enticing descriptions and original metaphors.

Plot-wise this was a little bit confusing, with the unreliable narration blending the real and the imagined, which made it hard to follow at times. I struggled a bit towards the end, when a lot of strange things were happening, though did enjoy the surprising twists. Also, this was a lot darker than I was expecting it to be, with grotesque imagery, visceral gore/body horror, and heavy SA content. I’d definitely recommend checking trigger warnings before going in.

The characters were fantastic and I enjoyed seeing them from Ann’s perspective, particularly as she became less reliable in her narration. If you like psychological horror, gore, gothic settings, and a strong atmosphere, this needs adding to your tbr.

Tense, mysterious and compelling. Thank you to John Murray Press for the NetGalley arc.

I requested this based on the cover it's just fantastic. It's a weird fever dream read I was fully immersed in the vivid writing style different to anything I've read before. It's utterly weird with grotesque descriptions.