Just over three months to go. I can hardly believe it.
Special Newsletter edition!
Hello friends! Well, I just looked at the calendar…
Just over three months from today—24th September 2026—this book is in the world. In actual shops. In actual hands. After nearly two years of writing, photographing, archiving, researching and one or two moments of wondering if I’d ever finish it, Secrets of an English Country House: A Year at Mapperton is just over three months away.
Because if you’re on this newsletter, you’ve been part of this journey in some way. You’ve read the Alberta essays. You’ve watched the shoots. You’ve followed along as I’ve tried to make sense of what it means to live inside a piece of history and do justice to the people who came before us. This book is the answer I arrived at. And I cannot wait for you to hold it.
What’s inside?
A full year at Mapperton, season by season. The house as it was—and as it is today. The extraordinary people who shaped it and our family history, including Alberta Sturges, the American heiress who crossed the Atlantic during that Gilded Age ere and left behind thousands of letters in our archive. The garden. The collections. The community we are building. The objects that carry grief and joy in equal measure.
And photographs. So many beautiful photographs.
If you haven’t pre-ordered yet—now really is the moment.
Pre-orders close 23rd September 2026—the day before publication. And every single one matters enormously, shaping how booksellers and Amazon position and promote the book right through to launch day and beyond.
Order from Amazon, Bookshop.org or Barnes & Noble, then complete the form to claim your thank-you gifts:
✨ Patrons — exclusive live Q&A with me, monthly digital scrapbook of unpublished images, Patron-only signed bookplate, plus a surprise still to come.
✨ Not yet a Patron? — 3 months free Mapperton Live! membership, entry to win 1 of 100 spots in a live Q&A with me, signed downloadable bookplate, and a Christmas card from me and Luke by post.
Just over three months. Let’s make them count.
With love, as always. xx Julie
