Join us at Booka Oswestry on publication day of the most anticipated historical debut of 2025: The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones.
The Miniaturist meets The Yellow Wallpaper in this sumptuous debut novel about three women whose fates collide in a wallpaper factory on the eve of the French Revolution.
Are some patterns destined to be repeated?
Paris, 1789. The Oberst Factory, which crafts exquisite wallpaper for the most fashionable French homes, is a place shrouded in mystery. Most enigmatic is the woman pictured in each of its prints, rumoured to be the late Mrs Oberst, who died in peculiar circumstances. When sisters Lara and Sofi arrive there for work, they quickly form a friendship with Josef Oberst, the motherless heir to the factory. Whilst Sofi’s political fervour intensifies, Lara is disturbed by the uncanny way her life appears mirrored in the wallpaper. Meanwhile Hortense, Josef’s spoilt aristocratic wife, is similarly unnerved by the scenes that line the
walls of her new home. With the mobs growing ever more violent, is she in danger of meeting the same untimely end as the last Mrs Oberst? As revolution blazes across France, the lives of Sofi, Lara and Hortense are set to collide in unimaginable and irrevocable ways. Can they change what lies ahead, or are some patterns destined to be repeated?
After studying English Literature at Durham University, Lora Jones began hercareer working in the TV industry in London, writing factual programme contentand comedy material for the BBC, Channel 4 and others. She now lives high amongst the rugged hills of North Wales, where she is currently rewilding an ex sheep farm. In her spare time she paints wildlife. The Woman in the Wallpaper is her first novel.
Tickets: £10 (Admits one, redeemable against a signed copy of The Woman In The Wallpaper) or £18.99 (Admits one, includes signed copy of The Woman In The Wallpaper)