LEAN CAT, SAVAGE CAT: Lauren J. Joseph in conversation

  • DATE

    18 May 2026

  • TIME

    6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

  • PRICE

    £4

  • VENUE

    Blackwell's Bookshop Manchester
    University Green, 146 Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9GP

  • TICKET INFO

    Book tickets

  • THEME

    Publishing

    Read

  • ORGANISER

    Blackwell's Bookshop

We are excited to welcome Lauren J. Joseph to Blackwell’s in partnership with UOM’s Centre for New Writing, to hear her discuss her latest novel.

Lean Cat, Savage Cat has been described as “a Talented Mr Ripley for contemporary Berlin: a twisting, sensual, heady and razor-sharp exploration of creativity, fame, desire and the divided self”.

Doors: 6.30pm, Starts: 6.45pm

Tickets are £4 or admission is free when purchasing a copy of the book in advance.

About the Book:

Charli has finished art school and now has no idea what to do with her life. She’s broke, disillusioned and her flatmates hate her. One night at a bar in Soho, however, everything changes when she first encounters the charismatic musician Alexander Geist. Androgynous, glamorously handsome, mysterious and just a little sinister, he feels something like a soul mate; and so when he heads off to Berlin, Charli follows.

There, at the centre of the city’s febrile party scene, Charli and Alexander embark on their great project: to make Alexander into the biggest star since David Bowie. But Alexander is elusive, mercurial; and Charli is in over her head before she realises just how self-destructive her life has become under his spell.

A story of obsession and excess, doppelgängers and disassociation, fame and the terrible things we do to feel loved, Lean Cat, Savage Cat is an unforgettable novel from one of the most exciting writers at work today.

About the Author:

Lauren J. Joseph was born in Liverpool and lives in London. Her film and performance work has been shown internationally. Joseph’s debut novel At Certain Points We Touch was selected as a book of the year by Stylist, Sheerluxe and Foyles, and she was named one of the Observer’s debut novelists of the year.