A Bookish Banquet With Daisy Buchanan
Join us on Wednesday the 26th of November for a cosy wintersome evening with Victoria x Juno Books as Daisy hosts a bookish banquet - to celebrate her book ‘Read Yourself Happy’.
We hope you’ll join us for this special evening - filled with stories, delicious food and cocktails and plenty of recommendations and inspirations!
We’ll be starting in The Clubhouse for tipples around 19.00 - we’ll be inviting you to take your seats from 19.45 - with a warm welcome from Daisy…
Over to Daisy
"I’d love to invite you to a bookish banquet. I’m a greedy reader – and a greedy person – and my favourite stories and my favourite dishes have a lot in common. They nourish me, they stimulate all my senses, and they bring me joy and delight. And they make me feel connected with the people I love. When I read something that makes me happy, I want to share it with everyone I know. Which is exactly how I feel when I eat something that makes me happy – and I want to share some favourite bookish dishes with all of you.
We’ll be going beyond the page to the table, sharing some iconic meals and comfort classics. Many of us are familiar with Little Women, so who’s up for trying Amy March’s school snack of choice, the pickled lime? You might not be so well acquainted with one of my other favourite American writers, Laurie Colwin – but I’m hoping you’ll be excited about getting to know her through the medium of fried chicken. As a reader and writer, I seek out stories about food and eating, because I think those are the stories that represent humans, at our very best. In my novels, I write about characters who are searching for themselves, and who learn to embrace who they are by embracing their desires and appetites. At our feast, we’ll all be embracing – and celebrating – our appetites. I hope you’re hungry…"
Read Yourself Happy
Forget ‘self-help’ and embrace ‘shelf-help’ by discovering the healing power of books and reading to inspire, comfort and fortify. In a hectic world that can feel uncertain and overwhelming, Daisy Buchanan offers the perfect antidote to all the noise, inviting us to discover the literary worlds that have helped her survive – and thrive.
Featuring original interviews with David Nicholls, Ruby Rare, Emma Gannon, Catherine Gray and more, Daisy provides hard-won wisdom and personally curated reading lists to help you process your emotions and find more peace with every page.
Daisy Buchanan is an award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster. She hosts the chart-topping podcast, You're Booked where she interviews legendary writers from all over the world about their reading habits. She often appears on Woman's Hour, Times Radio, and Good Morning Britain and has written several novels including the bestselling Insatiable (Sphere, 2021) and Careering (Sphere 2022) which was adapted by Radio Four and selected for the BBC Sounds Book Club.
Pre-Order The Book!
Be sure to pre-order your special price copy of Read Yourself Happy so the fantastic Juno Books will have it ready on your place setting for when you take your seat! Daisy will be signing books on the night too!
A Bookish Banquet
SNACKS
Dorset crab with Amy March’s pickled lime (g)
Imogen’s stolen toast & Claire Walsh’s pesto (v, g, contains nuts)
Daisy says…We all know that Amy March of Little Women fretted about her ‘lime debt’ – it was the fashionable snack at school, and she struggled to keep up with her wealthier classmates, who had limes to spare. So let’s give her an abundance of limes! (My new novel, coming next summer, is a retelling of Little Women – my Amy has swapped limes for an obsession with green juice.)
Delicious, garlicky home-made pesto, a tribute to Claire Walsh (Watermelon/The Walsh Sisters) who is trying to impress a family of finicky eaters, will be served with delicious, comforting, cushiony toast – the sort of toast that a broke, starving Imogen (Careering) ‘borrows’ from her flatmates.
THE MAIN EVENT
Taggie O’Hara’s chicken Estragon (from Rivals) & Rachel Samstat’s Mashed Potatoes
Free-range chicken, slowly cooked with white wine, shallots & french tarragon - finished with a dash of cream.
Served with buttery mash potatoes & seasonal greens
For our vegetarian guests
Wild mushroom Estragon & buttery mashed potatoes (v)
Daisy says…Taggie, the heroine of Rivals by Jilly Cooper, worries that she’s the least talented member of her very intelligent family – but she’s a phenomenal cook. Taggie is the go-to chef for any aspirational Rutshire wife looking to throw a fabulous dinner party. In the 1980s, this recipe (possibly inspired by Elizabeth David) would have dazzled the Corinthium execs.
Rachel Samstat’s mashed potatoes, from Heartburn – Nora Ephron
Even if you’ve never read Ephron’s classic novel, you probably know about this comforting dish. Rachel, a food writer, says ‘Whenever I fall in love, I begin with potatoes.’ And I love Nora Ephron’s writing even more than I love carbs.
TO FINISH
Custard ‘shape’ aka the Duchy’s blancmange & Imogen’s edible panties (g)
Daisy says… Custard ‘Shape’ - the Duchy’s blancmange from the cazalet chronicles
In Elizabeth Jane Howard’s famous family saga, their matriarch The Duchy loves to serve ‘shape’ – or rather, loves to ask the cook to make it – because it’s a pudding that her children, daughters in law and grandchildren all adore. Everyone else knows this dessert as blancmange, but the Duchy has a vocabulary all her own, and insists that it’s known as ‘shape’ – although no-one seems to be clear on what shape it’s supposed to be.
Sex blogger Imogen is anxious about helping herself to office snacks, when she’s interning, but she happens to have some handy edible panties in her bag. When you’re hungry, free food is free food. These cookie versions are much more appealing – and definitely sexier.
Victoria’s Bars
We’ll be raising a glass to a wonderful evening with beautiful cocktails specially designed for the Bookish Banquet - with a lovely selection of 0% tipples too…
Good To Knows
All bookings are through our online shop - just leave us a note in the comments box at checkout if you’d like to join us earlier and if you have any dietary requirements we need to know about
Can't wait to see you!
