Hold onto the precious jewel trapped in your dachshund's stomach and get ready for a whirlwind post-war fairytale that will make you hum the entire Anastasia soundtrack. We talk to YA and children's author Laura Wood about A COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS, a novel so profoundly magical that we both start crying by the end. After the Russian revolution, Countess Anna Grazinsky flees to England with her governess in an attempt to make a new life for herself and her family. She winds up working as a maid for the Westerholme family, a once great english country household that has been decimated by the First World War. We talk love stories, why eugenics has always been for losers, and Laura's forthcoming biography on the adored Ibbotson.

Artwork by Gavin Day, music by Harry Harris, produced by Caroline O'Donoghue and mixed by Hannah Varrall. Recorded at ACAST studios in London

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