Good morning! I mislaid a day this week due to having my nose in the most incredible novel, of which more below. I’ve also rounded up a few other favourite recent titles to add to your summer reading list. This is a really bumper year for fiction.

Today’s picks also include an eyeshadow stick, normal weddings, little horses, fantastic older books, broderie anglaise bedding, two notable obituaries, a potentially quite interesting and relatively affordable London hotel, a tablecloth, a dress, two recipes, and lots of interesting things to read (that aren’t books).

Here come the things I liked this week. Get comfortable, it’s a long one.

This book imprint

It’s called The Mermaid Collection, it’s from Penguin, it launched last year, and like Persephone books, they’re reprints of insufficiently-known (now, not when they were published) books by women. The difference is that Mermaids are reprints of books by women that MADE A SPLASH, do you see 🧜🏼‍♀️, i.e. that would have been commercial bestsellers in their day. They are all page-turners. Their publisher, Elizabeth Smith, explains the idea here.

There are currently 12 books on the list, with more imminent (I’m writing an intro to one of my favourite novels for them as we speak, see below). I thought I’d flag the series because I think you, readers of this newsletter, would really love them. Start anywhere - given we’re doing summer books, maybe Fenny by Lettice Cooper, set in Florence in the summer of 1933, but the collection is so sure-footed that you’re unlikely to go wrong.

Read more

Here’s what I wrote about Francesca Segal’s utterly wonderful Welcome to Glorious Tuga when it first came out:

The summeriest summer read here: pure feelgood joy, but clever, funny and beautifully written - it is just charming from start to finish. A zoologist called Charlotte goes off to a tiny tropical island to study some special endangered tortoises for a year, but she has an ulterior motive (clue: she’s never met her dad). The fictional island of Tuga is so persuasively and gorgeously described, as are its inhabitants, that you feel sure it’s real. There’s a man, obviously, and the man has a fiancée. Sunshine in book form - a lovely read.

And then there’s the sequel, Island Calling, which if anything is even better. Here’s what I wrote when it came out in hardback last year:

Welcome To Glorious Tuga is the first book and Island Calling is the sequel - it’s going to be a trilogy. I can’t think of anything I’d rather read if I were in proximity to sand and sea (though it would be so cheering in the depths of winter, too).

Francesca Segal has, incredibly, invented a whole island, complete with geography, argot, customs, foods, behaviours, celebrations, rituals - the lot. The result is deeply satisfying, engrossing, and utterly charming. It’s about Charlotte, a vet, who has come to the island to study special and endangered tortoises. She’s also looking for her birth father, who she suspects is from Tuga. I’m not going to say anything about the second book because of spoilers - but do yourself a favour and read these, whether you’re going away or not: they are summer between covers.

Island Calling is out in paperback today. I recommend it so highly (I’d read WTGT first - it’s not technically essential, but it’s so much fun, the sort of book you live in and are really sad to leave behind. If you’re going on holiday, stick both books in your suitcase and you’re sorted).

All this to say: we have an extract! Enjoy. All you need to know before you start reading is that FFA stands for From Far Away, which is what the islanders call visitors like Charlotte (there to do her research into endangered gold coin tortoises), that fizzycan is soda, that there is romantic awkwardness with Dan, and that Levi is very handsome.

Welcome To Glorious Tuga Chapter 12 Extract

4.3MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

And here’s the link to the book again.

Thank you to Francesca and to her publishers! Have a lovely Thursday, do please really kindly leave this post a ❤️ if you enjoyed it, thank you, and I’ll be back on Saturday with a weekend supplement for paid subscribers.

I have more lovingly handpicked book extracts up my sleeve - there will be another next week. But do read Island Calling, if you haven’t already - it couldn’t be more enjoyable if it tried. Watch it wend its way up the bestseller chart!

PS Two more summer-read ready book extracts:

Like books? Click here

I was just thinking that if you’d told me when I was 25, or even 35, that I would one day walk around the garden after rain feeling really happy for the plants - like, a sort of primitive joy on their behalf - I’d have snorted laughing.

Which got me to thinking yet again of the ways getting older changes you, though I’m not sure it’s getting older so much as becoming completely comfortable in your skin. Except that becoming completely comfortable in your skin is a byproduct of age, I think. And therapy. Anyway: then I thought of a few more things, and here they are.

1. I’d have been pretty startled at 25 if someone had said ‘you will have three children and wish you’d had a couple more’. As I’ve said before, the idea that you always know you want children, that you’re the ‘type’, seems strange to me. I didn’t have strong feelings either way until they came along.

Read more

Good afternoon! Sorry this is late but it really couldn’t be helped. Let’s crack right on with it in a brisk and efficient manner - there’s loads to get through. But first, a word from our sponsors (me).

Right: onwards. Here are some things I liked this week. Also Substack now has a highlighter function and if you’re reading on the web, I have made lavish use of it.

Thin summer trousers

I have been on a quest for thin trousers that I could wear in the heat and that didn’t have a dangly knottable tie at the front, because I don’t love those. My quest is now over, with these excellent thin trouser by a French brand called Tinsels. They are a thin summer trouser triumph. They are cotton poplin and airy, super comfortable, great shape, really well cut, wash like a dream (and dry in about 2 seconds). They come in olive green, that Jardin Majorelle blue that’s everywhere, and off-white.

I got mine from Collen & Clare in Southwold and there are another couple of UK or UK-friendly stockists (like here and here), or you can buy them directly from Tinsels here. In my experience anything under £130 sterling doesn’t incur import duty, but I may just have been lucky - it’s worth double checking, especially as I can’t now remember if I mean 130 pounds or 130 euros.

But also, these are £34.90 from Uniqlo - I got them before the above ones because I wanted thin olive trousers. They’re great. Not as great, but not a million miles - and, crucially, also extremely thin and cool to wear. These come in olive, off-white, black, beige and navy. I love olive with a tan (and red flips).

This fantastic dress

Wiggy Kit clothes are an investment, but in my experience it is one that pays off because you re-meet them with absolute delight year after year. I love the tortoiseshell print on this and the very flattering cut - all you need is underwear and shoes and you’re ready to go to anything, anywhere, day or night.

Nightie dresses

As I was saying in my post earlier this week, all I wore during that crazy heatwave we just had was my two cotton nighties from If Only If, and for avoidance of doubt, they absolutely passes muster as dresses - you just look like you’re off to the market in Provence to buy things for lunch, and typing that has made me want delicious Cavaillon melon.

If you’re after a dress that gives nightie vibes but is actually a dress, I saw this one on ’s post earlier and was sorely tempted - as previously noted, I love dresses you can waft about the garden in all day and still wear out to dinner. I think all summer dresses should be like that. This one is so poetic.

Ella Risbridger’s cookbook

I am so, so delighted that this instantly became a Sunday Times bestseller. Also completely unsurprised. If you’re a free subscriber, I’ve kept the post unlocked for a bit longer - cooking aside (though it is a BRILLIANT cookbook, obviously), it’s worth reading this just for the Q&A. Although, make the salmon.

Speaking of book extracts, I have THREE free ones coming up, each one a perfect summer read, so keep an eye out for that. (I read a ton of proofs to come up with these extracts and only approach the relevant publisher if I really love the book in question. Same with Me & My Desks - I wouldn’t ask to see the desk of someone whose work I didn’t admire, so you can take all those as hearty recommendations too).

How to go to a book event

Witness Marks by Melissa Harrison

How to go to a book event

Hi, how are you doing…

Read more

10 days ago · 90 likes · 46 comments · Melissa Harrison

Loved this from , whose new novel is utterly brilliant and in fact whose desk and writing process you can read about here.

I went to see her being interviewed at a local bookshop last week and she is such a fantastically articulate, thought-provoking and properly intelligent speaker - I really recommend you catch her if she’s appearing near you (her various dates and locations are at the bottom of her post above). ANYWAY - this is a very funny and very true post about audience members at book events from the point of view of the author.

These jute bags

Maison Bengal make jute and macramé bags for every smart lifestyle brand I could mention. I like buying directly from them, not only because it’s cheaper but because they’re a social enterprise and more of your money goes to the women who actually weave them in Bangladesh. Note: I love a basket bag as much as the next person, but jute is soft, meaning it doesn’t scratch your bare arms or legs if you’re not wearing many clothes.

I’m just showing you a few of my personal faves (along with this macramé one) - there are a whole heap of different shapes, in tons of different colours, including brighter ones, and loads of different sizes. Also jute is really tough and resilient - I’ve had my Maison Bengal bags for years and years, which in a way is quite annoying because my love for them is strong.

This little plate

A friend sent me a link to this saying ‘oh my God, it’s you as a plate!’. And it is. (This one, too).

This dress

I posted this dress in black last year, but look at it in this buttery yellow! DIVINE. I would wear it to the event I tried to wriggle out of attending.

These pillowcases

Do I need pillowcases? Absolutely not. Do I drool with longing at these? Absolutely yes. They’re here (they also have napkins and tablecloths, waah).

New favourite body brand alert

I’ve written a review of this exceptionally good body lotion for my Sunday Times column (possibly in today, otherwise next week), so I won’t repeat myself. I liked it so much that I got curious about the brand and called in other bits.

This one is fantastic if you have dry, rough, even scaly bits. It’s the urea, which essentially eats them all up. Unlovely thought, but lovely results - it gives you such nice skin. Don’t get this if you’re not ROUGH - get the yellow one I linked to above.

I really rate everything I’ve tried from this brand (haven’t got to face products yet), including the very effective body washes - the multi-oil one gives you gleaming skin and the salicylic acid one will sort out any congestion(eventually! Sometimes people expect miracles overnight but in 95% of cases you have to keep at it for a couple of weeks on the body and at least four weeks on the face).

Also, the prices are reasonable and the bottles are huge.

Helena Bonham Carter at 60

Could not love this more - or her, or for that matter him.

This pub in Notting Hill

I’m so looking forward to going here in the week - you could not ask for better food/restaurant/hospitality pedigree.

This post from Lucy Deedes

Lucy’s Substack

A Life in the Slow Lane

It's beginning to look a bit like the camping season. I think I can guarantee that our camping holidays back in the 1960s were about as far from today's as is humanly possible…

Read more

12 days ago · 99 likes · 43 comments · Lucy Deedes

Any post from Lucy Deedes, to be honest, but this one is sublime.

This post about the French and air

Franchement

On The French Relationship With Air

In a taxi home from Orly, the first thing the driver asked me was “How is the air flow?” He was adjusting the height of the windows a bit, and wanted to know if the air was on me too much. I didn’t quite know how to answer, but the way he worded the question was a sure sign I was back in France…

Read more

13 days ago · 62 likes · 36 comments · Shelby Chambers

My paternal grandmother used to stand very still outside on a hot day and say, with an almost beatific expression, ‘Il n’y a pas un souffle de vent’ - there isn’t a breath of wind. At the time everybody teased her for it, because she’d trot out the phrase like clockwork the moment the mercury went above 30 degrees, but now I say it to myself too and then have a nice four seconds remembering her.

Big art

there_y0u_are

So You Need Big Art

The number one most-asked question in my consults is “what do I do with this big ass wall…

Read more

11 days ago · 122 likes · 19 comments · Talia

The excellent Talia with non-obvious, non-naff ideas for populating big walls.

In brief

• Do we all know that the great Lucy Mangan is now on Substack?

• Barbara Pym

• Detectives by geographical location

• In praise of the middlebrow novel

• ‘There is a difference between recognising what has happened to us and building our identity around it’. So, so good from Philippa Perry

• I’ve read Dinner: A Love Story since forever, and I have every faith in this vegetarian bolognese recipe

• Siena Miller talks to Bay Garnett about style

• On working-class food guilt

• GLP-1 drugs MAY reduce the risk of cancer progression (NB this has not been peer-reviewed)

• Americans are treating Europe like a security exercise

• What women are actually using Claude for

• The Cannes film festival

• Cold infusions, yes please

• If you’re in the US: how to shop in Europe for antiques and get them home

• I literally think this 15 times a day

• A note from Istanbul

  

Thank you for reading! I am now off to order five chickens, because some of our ladies are old now and don’t lay anymore. Have a lovely weekend, please tell me what you’re up to, please leave this post a ❤️ if you liked it (thank you), and I’ll be back in the week with the first of a series of STONKING summer reading book extracts.

PS If you’re at the book fest in Hay on Wye this weekend, do go and have a look at Eleanor Crow’s paintings - they’re at The Table.

More posts from me this week:

Aside from inspiring a bestselling book, Home has over 85,000 subscribers and is the number 1 global bestseller in House & Garden, where all the lifestyle-ish stuff lives. Come and join us! You can read more about why you might want to do that (or not) here.

All posts auto-paywall after 2 weeks.

If you’re new here (hello and welcome!): Lucinda Chambers is the LEGENDARY former fashion director of British Vogue, a position she held for 25 years, and the co-founder of the brilliant curated shopping site Collagerie.

Every month Lucinda shares her favourite finds exclusively for readers of Home. They’re not just things she’s seen online and liked the look of - everything below has been personally inspected by Lucinda in the flesh.

Here is June’s As Good As It Looks. All Lucinda’s previous picks are here on Substack and also here on Collagerie. All posts auto-paywall after 2 weeks.

Hello again AGAILERS and welcome back…

This month and especially this weekend, the scorchio bank holiday one, where I am sitting in the cool writing this, I am in full summer joyous, holidays on the horizon mode, and I think my purchases reflect this, although I was a bit premature with some of them. But hey, they are now out and proud having been waiting in the wings patiently. Their day has come!

I always think when I look at the pictures of all my purchases all together I think, this is my happiest month yet… brilliant buys, for me at least, and hopefully some of you might see the point. I do fall in love with things, I don’t know who said shopping can’t make you happy, and I do see that, I really do, but when I find something and am thrilled by it, the print, the fit, the quality etc, I really find joy in that, wearing it but also sharing it. I would hate it if everyone looked the same, but yet I get real pleasure if someone else delights in it too!

Thank you, as always, to India who lets me shop and share with purpose and pleasure!

LX

Pleated Pull on Cotton Poplin Trousers in Carmine Blue, £175 from Toast

1. Toast trousers… I love this colour, it is my happy vibe, holiday-feeling although I wear it all year round in some guise or another as it’s so uplifting. These are really baggy (in a good way), strangely flattering for such a big trouser and if you are a fan of the wide leg, these are for you. They are in a really nice cotton crisp poplin, so none of the sag. Also, because the waist elastic is nice, wide and generous, you can adjust to hips if you are taller or waist if you are short like me, but I can also wear them with a platform sandal and just pull them down a tad.

   I hate a mean waistband, they should be banned! Nice side pockets too. Also, and quite strange, they are quite smart. I will wear mine with a white (or the one I am about to talk all to you about) shirt, not ironed, and a great big, simple brown belt.

   ---

Portlligat shirt in fine poplin, WNU x Lucy Williams, £130

2. Lucy Williams has teamed up with WNU and I borrowed this shirt to wear in a video I was doing. I loved it so much I had to order one! It’s collarless, which I love, and in a great tobacco shade which goes really well with aforementioned trousers but is also great with a feminine skirt as it’s really plain, masculine, (am I allowed to say that?), and in a great cotton, not thin, stout.

   I got mine in a small, as they come up on the big side. Nice side pocket detail. I bought one like it from the Jill Sander collection for Uniqlo about 15/20 years ago now and it’s still going strong, feels utilitarian and cool so I know this will become a firm friend.

   ---

Sandy Slides in Solid Dark Green, £390 from La Double J

3. When I fall in love with an item, I do fall hard and these are one of those things that I just couldn’t resist. As you might (or might not and that’s fine) have noticed, I like quite plain things as the main menu and then with the starter and pudding I like quite idiosyncratic things, personal and less workaday. These are just joyous! I’ve always loved a tassel and a hand made, hand tooled quality about accessories, so these ticked all the boxes.

   There are other colour combinations, equally fabulous, my friend Molly was wearing the tan and white which looked amazing on her.

   ---

Day’s End Linen Striped Pull-On Pants, £88 from Free People

4. These are great, they come in different colours but this combo had me at the first glance. I realise that I have always had an uneasy relationship with linen. These are cotton and linen, not flimsy but have a slight slub to them. I think I feel linen looks ‘crushed’ on me, don’t take me wrong, I love not ironing anything and I also wash things the minute I buy them, not because I’m a hygiene freak but because I am curious as to how they will behave after as I don’t really dry clean anything if I can help it.

   The colours are my best combination, tobacco, green, electric blue and yellow… I mean, all in one place!!!! I love the fact that the hem is huge and has been ‘placed’ on a slight angle. Again, the wide generous waist band and although they are super easy to wear, just the right length so no adjusting to taste, they are snazzy and smart.

   ---

Lizzie Fortunato Gold-Plated Cabana Bead Necklace, currently £195 from Liberty

5. I don’t know about you but one of the reasons I love spring and going into summer is that for me it’s bead season! There is a sense of freedom about it that you can’t do so much in the cold, like wearing a holiday necklace find over a sweater. So I really enjoy mixing them up, on shirts or T-shirts, flinging them around. This one I have been eyeing up for ages. The designer does quite a few iterations of these but this one for me ticks all the boxes, as I love fresh water pearls and they look luscious with these coloured beads, plus the shapes are all slightly different and plus plus, looks as great long with a short or doubled up with a great white T shirt. Wonderful, bringing on summer.

   ---

Handwoven Rope Laundry Baskets Gabe, set of 2, £139 from Westwing

6. I’m relatively new to this company, Westwing, and they are new to the UK, but I am loving their selection, as you find things that aren’t around and seen so much, plus they include lots of brands, not just their own, all at different prices, like we do at Collagerie! I love these guys. They have a point of difference, remind me a little of the string lampshades that I adore, plus my wicker vintage laundry baskets are unravelling with age, much as I love them. And it takes quite a lot for me to replace beloved things, but these have me.

   ---

Weleda Skin Food 🙌🏼, £15.99 from Cult Beauty

7. I’ve never quite understood those creams or products that tell you that you can put them anywhere, anytime. I like simple instructions of where and when. But this is just that and I understand what all the fuss is about and what a wondercream it is. I now have a slightly unhealthy relationship with it which is that I carry it around AT ALL TIMES. It’s great as a hand cream, really rich but not greasy as it sinks in fast.

   I put it on my knees, feet and face. It not only gives you a ‘glow’ (magic word) but you also feel the nourishment. It seems to have helped my nails as well (which after two trips to the recycling plant in Wandsworth with garden cuttings were in dire need). I love it and it is now my most constant companion.

   ---

ZW Collection Midi Dress With Ruffles, £39.99 from Zara

8. I’m slightly hysterical about this dress for a couple of reasons… When I tried it on it felt so right, beautifully effortless, very elegant. The top half is just very slightly exaggerated, which makes it feel very modern, and the waterfall frill at the front has nothing ‘girly’ about it. It has a slightly open but not exposed back, just a half zip and a couple of tiny buttons which makes it hang really well.

   I tried the S and the M and weirdly they were both as good, so, full disclosure I bought them both as was so worried I might do eating spillage and if I did… I have done that only once before and it was Zara as well, a brilliant pair of khaki trousers that I fell in love with, the cut of which I hadn’t seen before and I wear them ALL the time. I have my ‘good’ pair and my mucking around ones. That was about 5 years ago so I don’t feel so bad. But this dress is an absolute keeper, flattering, falls in all the right places and the fabric is viscose so doesn’t crease. Fine by me.

   ---

Sandals with wooden heels, £139 from Massimo Dutti

9. I bought these a while ago but they still have them online. I love a bit of height but not with spindle heels, so these are just the right side of a flat with height. Great colour, really well made as the suede is edged and great quality. I like the fact that they have a slightly Japanese feel to them. Having just seen the film Kukuho (I highly recommend it) about Kabuki, I am in the zone. Really comfortable too. Perhaps go a size down as I am five and the four was great, you don’t want to be sloshing around in them. The ankle straps make you feel very snug and secure which is great when you have a little height to navigate.

   ---

Jacquard-weave shopper, £27.99 from H&M

10. This is so darling. Love the colours, not too shouty, and the slender straps which feel very feminine, plus they don’t feel inexpensive AT ALL, really nicely finished. I feel it could be great in the evening when you need to put more than a lipstick/phone in. It’s a great size, and the striped bit of it is cotton, so no shine involved, just chic.

    ---

Small ceramic keepsake box, Henry Holland x Otiumberg, £145

11. I love it when collaborations feel like a perfect and yet imaginative fit. This is one of those. Henry Holland, fashion designer turned (beautifully) ceramist, has teamed up with one of my favourite jewellery designers, Otiumberg. This would make a gorgeous present if you could bear parting company with it. Perfect on the side of the bed for the little earrings that could so easily escape, but equally fabulous sitting on your best shelf. I love the brown and cream, understated, being thrown the wonderful chubby knot of gold, the two together look so brilliant and natural. Hats off to Henry and Otiumberg for thinking of this lovely thing.

    ---

Lisa Eldridge True Velvet Lip Colour in Ribbon, £29 from SpaceNK

12. Summer on the horizon always makes me want to wear red lipstick, that and no other make up, with a tan. I really like the matte-ness of Lisa Eldrige’s lipsticks, without that concrete setting feeling. This red is great, no note of blue.

    ---

Limited edition The Midi New York, £500 from DeMellier

13. The words ‘forever pieces’ often send a little chill through me as I buy and view all my clothes as forever things. Indeed, ever since I can remember, probably aged 17, I would say to myself, will I love this when I’m 70? That’s my litmus test, internally. Never not said.

    But… this bag really is that. I saw it months ago on a press day at DeMellier and fell in love. And now it’s landed. I can be patient for something that’s as glorious as this is. All their bags are beautifully made, the founder, Mireia is inspiring, and if you aren’t familiar with this brand then I urge you to read their story and look at what they do.

    On to this bag which is so punchy and fabulous, it lifts up everything you wear and is so distinctive and smart, but also, and I have a DeMellier bag from way back, they are built to last, to be bashed about and not made to be precious about them, they really are for ‘working women, but gosh they are stylish.

    ---

Made.com dark green gloss Kain storage coffee table, £429 from Next

14. We have had our ottoman in the sitting room for years and years and it’s smothered in books, hardly room to put down a coffee cup, let alone a TV supper tray, so when I spied this wondrous thing, glossy, green, modern AND with a big drawer… I mean. I love the fact that there are no sharp edges, that it feels modern which given the fact the room is ‘busy’ to say the least, is a nice contrast. I like nothing better than to mix things up, the vintage with industrial, the florals with something hard edged. All about the contrasts.

    ---

Liddie Barrel Tank Dress, £100 from Hush

15. This ticks quite a lot of holiday and beyond boxes. You may know that I am very partial to a tie-dye, dip-dye situation, from cushions to clothes, tablecloths and napkins, I could go on. I love the ease of this dress, the neatness and simplicity of the top bit and then the barrel shape of the lower half, leaving me with a billowing feel without looking Tiggywinkle-esque. It’s flattering and free…and green.

    

A gazillion thanks to Lucinda for doing these for us every month. I REALLY love this one.

Have a lovely Friday. I’m in London for a funeral today. Given this, tomorrow’s weekend supplement may or may not appear on time, but do please bear with me - it will be along over the weekend, just perhaps not first thing Saturday.

Read more

Good morning! I don’t know where this week has gone. Or the whole of May so far, really. It’s like the summer train is speeding up. I want to run after it, waving frantically and shouting ‘Wait for me!’. And now it’s a busy long weekend with a heatwave incoming (what a nice sentence to type), and with one thing and another, this post is written in haste and is shorter than usual. Although maybe it will soon be TOO HOT for you to read anything at all because you’ll be busy basking in the sun like a seal. I certainly hope so - I wish you sealdom.

Let’s just get right into it: here are some things I liked this week. They’re very summery, to suit the circs. My top tip about heat is to close all the windows and curtains rather than creating drafts that let the nice hot air in - you’ll be glad you did when it’s time for bed and your room is (relatively) cool.

Clothes aside, loads of today’s recommendations are reduced or on sale, completely by accident. Just as well, since none were especially cheap to start off with, but still.

Read more

Read more

Read more

I write these recommendation posts for paid subscribers once a week, and for free subscribers once a month. This becomes a PAID post in a bit. All the other posts like this are here (there are loads). Posts auto-paywall after 2 weeks.

If you’re looking for FREE things to read, here is food writer and novelist Felicity Cloake’s marvellous Me & My Desk, and here is Sarah Jossel, beauty editor extraordinaire, making a special film of some of her favourites just for us.

And window-shopping is also FREE, though not without risk.

Good morning! There is nothing I love more than coming home. Nothing. You could give me a diamond the size of my head to persuade me to stay away for long and I would say no thank you. (And anyway, I prefer semi-precious stones like peridots and cornelians and aventurines and tourmalines. You could string all those names together and make a poem).

Anyway: I love dear ole London, where I spent much of the week, but I love coming home. The weather has been grimly unseasonal but there was a double - if you look very closely - rainbow on the way home…

And then later there was the kitchen table and lilacs and candles and sighs of CONTENTMENT.

The order of service among the lilacs is from Rachel Cooke’s memorial service, which took place at St Bride’s, the journalists’ church in Fleet St, on Thursday. God, it was sad. It was so sad and so beautiful. It is mad that she is dead. I tell myself she’s just somewhere else, away, which I suppose she is, with other friends who died stupidly young. I mean literally away, like in Tonga or the Arctic Circle, out of reach with no signal, but in this world somewhere. It is jolting to be reminded that that’s not necessarily true.

But what a lovely celebration of her life it was. The people who read and gave eulogies give you a flavour of how full of interests and curiosity she was: the architect Dycella Cummings-Palmer, The Observer’s Tim Adams, Professor Dame Hermione Lee, Alan Hollinghurst, Delia Smith, and her friend Jeremy Langmead, of this parish. Rachel’s husband Tony Quinn read from her interview with Gore Vidal. The music was extraordinarily affecting. We sang ‘He who would valiant be’ changed to ‘She’.

Guess how much Mounjaro costs in the pharmacy in Selfridges? FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS. The guy didn’t even blink telling me. While I was gawping at him like a fish, he helpfully added that they had a supplement that he really recommended to anyone who was taking the jabs. Herbal, marvellous, so good for one in… quite vague ways. Guess the price of it for six months’ supply? SIXTEEN HUNDRED POUNDS.

What is going on? Who are the people who pay these prices, and why are they so careless with their riches? (Once again London Falling popped into my head).

What with interviewing Sarah and Rachel’s memorial, I was in London for most of the week. Today’s weekend supplement is slightly short [edited - it’s in fact massively long] for this reason - but I have made you a little list of the obvious and less-obvious (hopefully) places I particularly like in and around Marylebone. It’s a pdf at the bottom of this post. I don’t know what possessed me to start writing it - it’s hardly an unknown neighbourhood full of secret corners - and it took me HOURS. I hope someone finds it useful!

Right, onto the things I liked this week. They include excellent new makeup, a great new gardening book, gorgeous dinner plates, the very French, or rather very specifically Parisienne en vacances cotton bag I post every summer (but now available on Net A Porter), a great coffee table, the aforementioned guide to Marylebone, some particularly interesting articles, and a few other bits. Let’s start with a quote from this post by :

‘The thing I love most about country living is that joy materialises right in front of me suddenly and often’.

Me too.

Read more

I write about beauty every week as an enthusiastic amateur. I’m merely the foothills. My colleague Sarah Jossel is Kilimanjaro. She is MAJESTIC. She was the beauty editor of The S…

Read more

Read more

Good morning! Have you had a nice week? I have, except that after I mentioned the dog incident, several of the comments expressed concern about gentle, ELDERLY dogs being attacked and I kept thinking about that on and off for days. It makes my heart ache to even imagine it.

The big world continues to burn, but in the little world, the roses are out. There’s cow parsley frothing everywhere. The first cuckoo was heard in the village at 12 noon on Friday. Onwards! We mustn’t get bogged down in sadness about hypothetical dogs. Frankly the UK local election results - CHOOSE HATE, essentially - are challenging enough, mood-wise.

Read more

This is the 11th instalment of a series called Me & My Desk, which exists because I find other writers’ work routines and work environments fascinating. All the other writers’ desks in the series so …

Read more

I do, though. I’m so cross. And I’ll stop there before I start ranting about irresponsible dog owners. Except to say, why would you even want that sort of dog? It’s in itself a marker of insecurity, like old men in penis cars. Also you don’t look very hard flailing about and shrieking when it turns out you can’t even hold on to your own dog lead.

Read more

Good morning! I love that quote. It’s in my book, but if you haven’t read my book - quelle tristesse, you can remedy that here - it’s a good thought to ponder on a Saturday morning, especially when the world feels grotesquely turbulent. Living well, taking pleasure in small things, is what the spirit of this newsletter is about.

(Nancy Mitford’s historical biographies are chronically underrated, especially Mme de P and The Sun King. They’re like being at Versailles with your nosiest and most gossipy friend, the sort of person who knows everybody, introduces them with much delighted squealing and air kissing, and then the moment they wander off grabs your arm, raises an eyebrow and says ‘Well…’).

I’ve digressed right at the beginning, a new low. Let’s get on with it. HEREWITH my favourite things this week. Today we have: a bargainous pleated lampshade that looks about ten times more expensive than it is, a bargainous table lamp base to go with it, Italian vegetable cooking, what might be the perfect pair of jeans (according to someone who really seems to know), makeup recs, tablecloths, a favourite fake tan, a kaftan that is attractive rather than post-sexual, a lovely rug, two really divine, summery blue shirts, a couple of recipes, and a ton of interesting things to read. Get comfy, get your cup of tea, and we’re off.

Read more

Read more

Good morning! It feels properly WARM where I live and everything in the garden is erupting and frothing and bursting forth, like nature undoing its bodice and shaking out it…

Read more

This took too long to upload this morning when I was rushing, but am trying again now, just in case you have makeup overwhelm and find it helpful. I think most of the items are in my shop (? some of them, at least). I threw in a mirror selfie with terrible lighting for good measure, because I note from my own consumption of this sort of thing that that is the law.

Read more

There was talk earlier in the week of women not posting today in protest at the recent arrival of a particularly terrible person on Substack, where he promptly acquired, or imported, a million subscribers, meaning you couldn’t miss him briefly sitting at the top of a bestseller chart.

I don’t know whether the plan gained any traction, but I feel very strongly that women should never silence themselves - erase themselves - over men’s behaviour. No shade intended whatsoever if people have gone silent - obviously I understand the desire behind it. You can contact Substack directly here if you need to report a violation of content guidelines. And here’s some good advice.

Onwards! GOOD MORNING! As George Herbert said, and as I never tire of repeating, living well is the best revenge. Here are a whole load of life-enhancing things to read, (window) shop for, absorb and think about this week.

I write these posts for paid subscribers once a week, and for free subscribers once a month. This is a paid post. The most recent free one is here. All posts auto-paywall after 4 weeks, though I’m about to change that to 2.

Read more