Event: Vintage tea party at Little, Brown

A few weeks ago I read the excellent The Vintage Teacup Club (find my review here) by Vanessa Greene and I was very fortunate to be invited along to a special vintage tea party by publisher Little, Brown Book Group hosted by none other than the lovely author of the novel herself.

On Wednesday afternoon I set out for the Little, Brown offices, which are housed in a stunning neo-classical building on Victoria Embankment.

As you can see on my photos below (behind the cut), we were upon arrival treated to a spread of colourful cakes, sandwiches and scones. The table was also filled with pretty vintage tea cups and saucers, which was of course very suited to the theme of the event. I filled my plate with two types of yummy sandwiches, a cute little pink cake and a scone with the most delicious clotted cream ever.

Vanessa (left) and Madeleine (right, Press Officer at Little, Brown),
pouring tea from a ginormous tea pot

When we sat down with our tea and cakes Vanessa first read a few extracts from her novel (which was a nice refresher for me as it had been a few weeks since I had finished my copy), after which we asked her questions about her previous work, her writing habits, and things that had inspired her while writing her debut novel (such as tea sets she had come across herself).

Since my hands were full with tea and sandwiches I didn't actually write any of her answers down, but it was wonderful to listen to Vanessa talk about her writing and research and getting the chance to ask her a few questions of my own. And the Q/A soon turned into a more general chat between everyone which made for a really nice evening.

Unfortunately I had to leave early to rush to the theatre (I was truly diappointed I had to go, as I was having such a nice time talking to everyone) but not before Vanessa wrote an incredibly sweet dedication in my copy of her novel:

In short: The Vintage Teacup Club event was fantastic and I cannot thank Madeleine and Carleen at Little, Brown and of course Vanessa enough for making it so wonderful!