Here it is! My new book! And also in a way our new book, because it’s an extension of this newsletter - which wouldn’t exist if you didn’t subscribe to it. So first of all, THANK YOU. This book is for you.
Here’s a bit more about the book:
When I want to explain it quickly to people, I say ‘it’s a book about interiors for people who put stuff on the fridge’.
It is a mix of useful practical information, essays on domestic themes, easy and effective styling suggestions, tips, ideas and (hopefully) inspiration, plus advice, recipes, jokes, good addresses, little tricks, and the odd pep talk.
In the book, I take you through a house room by room and tell you one or two things that I think might be useful about each one. It might be something about choosing mattresses (I say ‘something’ - I’m mattress-obsessed and have basically written a dissertation). Or making a kitchen feel properly cosy and inviting. Or throwing a party without stressing out. Or ensuring overnight guests actively enjoy sleeping on the sofa. And so on. It’s a fat book - about 350 pages.
What interests me is CHARM. This isn’t is a book about the mechanics of design. I like good design and admire all sorts of different decorating styles, but if a room lacks charm - if I can’t see the warmth and soul in it - I tend to glaze over.
My book is about showing you how to make your home full of charm and full of YOU, not full of other people’s Pinterest boards. It’s about creating spaces that are emotionally and aesthetically satisfying. It’s about trusting your own taste (or learning to trust it, or learning to find it in the first place), and being able to tell the difference between what the algorithm thinks you want and what your beating human heart truly desires.
It’s about unleashing individuality and confidence and originality and creativity and JOY, whether you live in town or country, in a rented room or in a big house. It’s about finding your own unique vibe, stopping striving for so-called ‘perfection’ (ugh) and embracing REAL LIFE, wonkiness and burn marks on the worktop included. It’s about using things you’ve very probably already got, but in a fresh way. Though… there are also shopping opportunities.
It’s not a book about houses. It’s about creating a home - a private home, full of your private self - that makes you sigh with contentment the moment you turn the key in the lock.
Giant close-up of the beautiful jacket (if you’re viewing this on the web):
From 1999 to 2023, I thought that when my publishers urged me to harass ask people to preorder a book, they were just being really pushy and cringe - or rather, that they were trying to make me be pushy and cringe. So I never did it, on the basis that it is not difficult to go and buy a book once it’s in the shops.
But that is not how it works at all. Pre-orders determine how much booksellers get behind a title, how many copies they order, and how well the book is likely to do.
So please click here to pre-order HOME if it sounds like the sort of thing you might like to own. That Linktree includes signed copies from Waterstones. I can also go in and sign any ordered through my friends at The Aldeburgh Bookshop (also linked).
In case you’re wondering: I haven’t done the maths but the book is roughly 60% brand new material and 40% tweaked or expanded material that appeared on Substack first.
Much more about all this later in the year, e.g. aside from signings and events, I want to have a dinner for at least some founder members and a party for as many paid subscribers as humanly possible, but I haven’t worked out what or how or where yet. Watch this space. It’s going to be fun.
Have an excellent Monday, and for the sake of my ego, do please really kindly give this post a ❤️, a repost or maybe even BOTH if you feel like it. Thank you!
PS This ↓ by
came up on my Notes feed last month, like a good omen.
Hurrah! Well done, cannot wait. PS please come to Bath x
And October! Just when we need something to cosy up with for those darker nights. I will look forward to that.