Frankie recommends... The Ladie Upstairs - Jessie Elland

Frankie recommends... Northanger Abbey meets American Psycho in this vitriolic descent into dream-like madness. Elland is a genius in crafting a brilliantly incoherent, hate-filled protagonist who develops an obsession with the 'Ladie' upstairs - but what is going on up there? Visceral, oozing horror that creeps and crawls and electrifies the historical horror genre (plus representation of us mentally ill girls in 'historic' fiction - love; even if she is absolutely insane...)

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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?

Jessie Elland's deeply visceral debut is a dark and twisted tale of ambition and desire. Are you brave enough to enter Ropner Hall?