This is definitely a strange one! Downton Abbey meets the hallucinatory weirdness of Bunny by Mona Awad meets Piranesi’s mysterious meandering house, maybe. Don’t ask me exactly what went on, I couldn’t tell you.

Where the plot itself feels paper-thin and not fully answered, the novel is drenched in description. Visceral really is the best word for it: the “downstairs” side of the house is everything disgusting and oozing and grimy, all violence and grotesquerie, while “upstairs” is pure and light and airy but filled with overwhelming sweetness and cakes and colours. The whole thing has no shortage of blood and bodily fluids and morsels of food, everything formed of clots and dripping globules. It’s a gross, gluttonous fever dream.

And I could definitely see talent in the writing -- there were lots of evocative lines, especially about the house itself. Unfortunately I felt like there was often too much; paragraphs got repetitive, the same ideas repeated again and again, and while we’re stuck in Ann’s head with her thoughts and not much other interaction is happening, it can all get a bit dense and sluggish? I’m not always one for less is more, and there was absolutely atmosphere here... but on this occasion I also think a little /less/ might have made for more effective storytelling.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

cw sexual assault and many instances of bingeing/purging/vomiting, not one for the squeamish

Absolutely gorgeous in the most hideous sense. A tale of the self-sustaining nature of classes, and the empty promise of social mobility of capitalism.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @johnmurraypress for the ARC.

Well, this was a weird read.

It definitely dark, it’s definitely twisted. About class, power and desire.

It’s eerie, unsettling and gory.

I will look forward to seeing what this author does next.

On the one hand, I loved this upstairs-downstairs setting and Ann is such an interesting character. However, the writing itself was a slog. Overwritten—I imagine the author was going for purple prose but it wasn't that at all, it was just confusing. It took me way to long to get through this and discolored my reading experience. I would have loved this story itself with all the fat trimmed.

"Mrs Hardy understands this house and its silly little people like no one else! She, with great skill, understands exactly what it needs, who it needs, when it needs..."

This book was not what I expected but was so entirely up my alley. At once a dark parody of upstairs downstairs style stories and a twisty, visceral horror novel, this book is hard to define and resists categorisation. It tells the story of Ann, a maid in the grand house of Ropner, who desperately wants to serve the ladie upstairs to prove that she, unlike her colleagues, is pure and virtuous and good. Worthy of her. And this desperation to be seen as pure and different propels her into places she never imagined.

This a VISCERAL book which includes a lot of sexual violence so be aware of that going into it. Sometimes the viscerality feels like it strays a bit into fatphobia and disgust of certain bodies but I do get what the author was going for. It is also a book that will not hold your hand when it comes to the secrets at its core. If you want everything tied up in a bow, this book is not for you, but I really enjoyed the dark road it took me on. Sometimes the metaphorical prose can obfuscate what is actually happening but I think this mimics the very environment the story takes place in.

I thought this was a fantastic debut novel and I cannot wait to see what Elland writes next.

I will admit though, I kept reading ladie as laddie which sometimes didn't quite match the tone!

👩🏻 Unsettling
👩🏻 Historical
👩🏻 Femgore

Oof what a wild ride!
Ann is a ‘below stairs’ scullery maid who pines to be at the side of the lady of the house. But when a chance encounter makes her dreams come true, Ann doesn’t get the happy ending she hoped for.
This was a total fever dream with the lines between reality and delusion completely blurred.
The writing style is very rich in description which for me felt stighlty overwritten but others may enjoy this style, I’m a simple writing girly. I also found sometimes the author would use a simile then explain it which felt a bit like she didn’t trust the reader but this bothered me less as I read.
As an aside I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone managing an eating disorder as the main character uses purging as a coping mechanism which is described graphically.
I’m grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this gifted e-arc and experience this emerging genre of femgore.

The Ladie Upstairs has a wonderfully eerie gothic atmosphere and an intriguing premise, but the execution is messy. The story feels disorienting and overly complicated—convoluted, overwritten, and hard to follow—making it more frustrating than haunting. The journey from scullery maid to lady’s maid has potential, and there are genuinely unsettling moments, but the tangled narrative and excessive prose make it difficult to stay engaged. It’s an ambitious novel with a strong sense of dread, but it ultimately gets lost in its own chaos.

I liked the premise of this one but struggled with the narrator. I will say that the voice provoked a strong reaction! But in my case I couldn't enjoy it unfortunately. I'm sure it will find an audience, though.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Amazon.

This was such a convoluted story, and while it took me a while to get into this, one I was half way through I was engaged
Would love to read more books by the author!

This is a dark and intriguing book. I liked the feminist themes of the book and the dream like horror. The choice of nature imagery and the conjuring up of grime and horror from everyday items and from human bodies worked well, mostly.
However, the book felt overwritten. I felt a bit bombarded by the imagery at times and wanted less.
Ultimately it felt too dense and although I like bizarre horror, the overwriting marred this for me.

Ann is a scullery maid with dreams above her station. With a violently black and white outlook on the world, she associates the ethereal beauty of the house's mistress - the titular Ladie Upstairs - with goodness, cleanliness and Godliness. The Ladie stands in sharp contrast to the vulgar, bestial serving class that populates Ann's world. Like a fairytale princess unjustly swapped at birth, Ann knows in her soul that she is above the drudgery of this life. A chance encounter opens the door for her to be elevated upstairs, closer to her true station, closer to her Ladie. But rot has permeated all levels of Ropner Hall.

Despite having some great scenes, overall, this wasn't really for me. I think it could be super popular with Mona Awad/Eric LaRocca fans. In the opulent world of Ropner, Ann's distorted thinking twists food into grotesqueries; purging and restriction become synonymous with saintliness. The writing luxuriates in Ann's disgust for everything of the body. The descriptions became so dense, though, and came so often, I found myself skimming more and more as the book went on. I found the intentional awfulness lost a lot of its impact through excessive repetition.

I agree with the other reviews that given how amorphous (non-existent?) the plot is, it's difficult to see what the scenes of sexual assault add.

Thank you for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review. In it we follow the story of Ann who is utterly obsessed with Lady Charlotte, the niece of the Lady who owns Ropner Hall. She is disgusted by her fellow servants and desires to remain as pure and saintly as possible in the hopes that she will be chosen to be Lady Charlotte's new maid.

So when the opportunity does arise, Ann is elated, and I felt genuinely happy for her. However, it doesn't take long for things to take a dark and twisted turn and I was hooked! I kept thinking I knew what was happening, but was proven wrong time and again and I am finding myself STILL thinking about that ending!!

Creepy dolls; grotesque servants; rich, sumptuous, sick inducing food; death and decay; bouts of insanity; terror in the woods; and an overall feeling of dread that makes you second guess that thing you think you saw in the corner of your eye, this book kept me hooked from the first to the last page!

My only complaints are that it did feel a bit too wordy at times and there was A LOT of references to sick and often very descriptive examples of sick which I had to skip over because I have emetophobia, so I would warn anyone wanting to read it that those scenes are in there.

This book succeeded in feeling like a fever dream, with an unsettling and stifling atmosphere, but unfortunately had a writing style that felt clunky and ultimately took me out of the story.

I haven’t finished this book - I saw lots of other reviewers raving about this one which intrigued me to request it however at 41% in I’ve decided it’s not for me !

I finished The Ladie Upstairs yesterday and it was probably the weirdest f***ing book I've ever read. It felt a bit like stumbling around in the dark, but in the best way. Out in May. More weird women in horror please!

This was a great read! It was a fever dream of a story. Gothic and lush. The writing was occasionally a tad flowery and repetitive but overall still enjoyable.

Oh I loved this. Parts of it genuinely scared me. I have absolutely no idea what happened and am very here for it.

Ann is a scullery maid at Ropner Hall, but she doesn’t belong in that kitchen with the others, so unclean and full of badness. She idolises the Lady of the house, and every person elevated and clean in the floors above, but only after a chance encounter with Lady Charlotte does she have her eyes opened to what happens above her station.

TWs for this book include: sexual assault, self-harm, violence/gore

This book is vivid. Sometimes to a fault; sometimes you can’t appreciate the beautiful imagery conjured because you’re already being whacked in the face with it again in the next sentence, with little to no breathing room. It grounds you in the moments that Ann is experiencing, and the visceral reactions she has to everyone around her. The detailed imagery is also a distraction from the plot - there were a few times I realised I had no idea what had happened, really, which you eventually come to realise is all part of Ann’s unreliable narration.

It’s hard to describe this book without spoiling any of the plot. It starts off slow, but once you push past the 30-40% mark it’s an easy read, because you never know what’s coming around the next bend of a corridor or locked door. The end is not a twist or surprising - you’re told the entire way along what is coming - but it is very satisfying. Although I’m left with so many questions.

This one’s a 3 star for me - it’s a fun plot with some really delightful descriptions, but they equally exhausted me at other times, with endless run-on sentences. The open questions left of how or why certain things were included are staying with me more than the actual plot did, which I don’t think was the author’s goal. I also don’t really think the SA needed to be included.

I’d definitely recommend this book if you enjoy a confusing but beautifully described narrative, vs a fast paced plot with simple-prose.

The Ladie Upstairs by Jessie Elland is an evocative, immersive tale set in the grand Ropner Hall, exploring themes of ambition, class, and the desire for a better life. The story follows Ann, a scullery maid who has spent her days working in the gloomy kitchen of the sprawling estate, dreaming of a different existence. Her chance for change comes when she is offered the opportunity to become Lady Charlotte’s personal maid. For Ann, this marks the escape from her challenging life below stairs, and the hope of a brighter future.

However, as Ann begins her new life in the privileged world above stairs, she discovers that it is not as simple or as perfect as she had imagined. Though she now enjoys a higher status within the household, she soon realises that the complications of her new role are far from what she expected. The ease of life she anticipated begins to feel more complicated and difficult as she navigates the new relationships and responsibilities that come with her position.

Elland’s writing is rich in detail, drawing the reader into the world of Ropner Hall with vivid, sensory descriptions. The contrasts between Ann’s past life in the scullery and her new life as a lady’s maid are stark, making the reader feel the weight of her transformation. As Ann becomes more familiar with her new environment, she is forced to reckon with the complexities of her position and the people she serves, leading to an exploration of class, power, and identity.

Ann is a relatable character, driven by her desire to improve her circumstances and to belong to a world that seems just out of reach. As she moves through her new role, her hopes and dreams are tested, and she is forced to confront the reality that sometimes, what seems like an escape can come with its own set of challenges.

The Ladie Upstairs is a compelling exploration of the dynamics of class, power, and ambition. It offers a thoughtful look at the complexities of moving between different social worlds, and the compromises one might make along the way. With its richly drawn characters and immersive setting, this book would spark meaningful discussions about the nature of social mobility, the choices we make, and the price of ambition.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.