I was so disappointed I simply couldn’t accept Chaelli Cattlin’s latest book for review as I am utterly snowed under. However, I’m delighted he agreed to stay in with me today to tell me all about it anyway. My thanks to Ben Cameron at Cameron Publicity for putting us in touch with one another.

Staying in with Chaelli Cattlin

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Chaelli.Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

This is my latest book, The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019. I chose this one as it’s a continuation of the 2018 book and with some currently relevant content.

It’s a really unusual title. What can we expect from an evening in with The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019.

The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019 takes place in a fictional café in the north of England. There are five rooms in the café, each with its own regular clientele and themes (although there is occasionally some crossover of both). The rooms are all named after cities with which I have a particular affinity and have spent a lot of time, ranging from months to several years. Cape Town conversations mainly deal with the development of politics in the period covered by the book and are rather opinionated. Budapest is a space for would-be artists (writers, musicians, TV producer / presenters, et al) while Beirut is more for the romantics, even though most of it fails! Granada is for those interested in travel experiences, and Hebden Bridge is gossipy, but also delves into issues such as surrogacy and mental health. The key point is that (almost) everything is based on my first-hand experience, sometimes understated and sometimes exaggerated, and is recounted by myself as the owner / barista and by the characters in each room.

This sounds so intriguing! What have readers been saying about The Café with Five Faces, What the Walls Heard, 2018-2019?

Reviews have included:

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars: So impactful!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: Like a Wiki-slash-Lonely-Planet with personal stories behind it; it’s informative and reads like a best friend you don’t really know; a nice gift to those who love but for some reason can’t travel at this time because it feels like a mini world in a book format.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: Coffee lovers, café sitters, travellers and those who find themselves engrossed in eavesdropping on others’ conversations will enjoy this.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: The kind of everyday conversations people have when they get together with their friends to catch up to talk about life, politics, football and such topics; it made me feel part voyeur as if I was sitting there in the corner, listening in.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: Perfect for people who enjoy unobtrusively listening in occasionally to the conversation at the next table; a light-hearted read but bringing in all sort of topics from travel to today’s political situation in a very readable way.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars: This cosy little book was just what I was looking for with amazing cultural aspects and views, world cuisine and coffee culture, casual yet provocative conversations and last but not least a multi-cultural, know-it-all cafe owner with great insights about food and drinks, who also has a level of nonchalance I wish to have in life; a delicious reading experience.

 It sounds as if it’s being received very well.

What else have you brought along and why?

As I am a barista specialising in third-wave / speciality coffee, I have brought along a range of single origin coffees made in a variety of ways, along with some Hungarian desserts and a selection of characters from The Café with Five Faces. I’ve also brought a lot of photographs; these can be seen here.

I enjoyed looking at the photos very much Chaelli, though as a tea drinker who never drinks coffee I haven’t a clue what third-wave coffee means!

I could also bring along a song or two by Jimez, my failed writer, but that might be asking for trouble!

It might indeed! Thanks so much for staying in with me to chat about The Cafe with Five Faces. Tell you what, as I never drink coffee, you make your favourite for me to try whilst I tell blog readers more about The Café with Five Faces.

The Cafe with Five Faces

The Café with Five Faces, hardly surprisingly, is a café with five distinct areas, each named after a city or town with which the author has a special affinity. Although there is some crossover between the rooms, both in terms of characters and storylines, each space has its own central themes.

Beirut is a room for personal stories and aspired or failed romance, usually of the latter variety (and the author is well-versed in the latter). Budapest is a room for aspiring artists, writers and musicians, usually of the thwarted variety (and, again, the author has relevant experience). Cape Town is a room mainly for men and mainly for politics, exclusively of the pro-liberal and anti-Brexit persuasion, with a bit of football thrown in for good measure. Granada is an outdoor space for raconteurs of travel anecdotes for readers suffering from wanderlust. Last, but not least, Hebden Bridge is a Yorkshire-style tearoom frequented by the over-fifties and just a little bit gossipy.

There’s something for everyone – just choose your room with care!

The Cafe with Five Faces is available for purchase here.

About Chaelli Cattlin

Chaelli Cattlin is a traveller, observer and coffee fanatic. His ‘day job’, teaching English, has given him a lifetime of travel and his natural nosiness has helped him to get to know and observe people from all around the world.

These days, he is studying for a Diploma in Coffee Skills and has so far taken courses in Beirut, London, Cape Town, Bogotá and Villa de Leyva (Colombia). He as picked coffee on two different estates in Colombia. His focus is ‘third wave’ / ‘speciality’ brewing methods, such as Chemex, V60, Aeropress and Siphon, although he has been trained in Barista skills working with espresso-based coffees as well.

He has been a writer for a long time, starting with children’s adventure stories written when barely a teen, through to materials and courses for English language teachers, and an as yet unpublished travelogue.

Chaelli Cattlin lives in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

You’ll find more on Facebook and you can follow The Cafe with Five Faces on Twitter @thecafewith5fa1, or visit the website.