Devoted fans of Jan Karon’s beloved Mitford series always wish for another book, but Jan has long insisted that she has said all she has to say about Mitford.

For seven years it looked like To Be Where You Are, published in 2017, would be the end of the story. But on May 18, 2024, at the Mitford Spring Tea at the Mitford Museum in Hudson, North Carolina, Jan officially announced that she is currently writing the fifteenth Mitford novel! I think she was just surprised as we were.

In April 2020, while everyone was stuck at home, Jan did write two Facebook posts following up on the big announcement at the end of chapter 20 in To Be Where You Are. (Spoiler alert: Don’t read these if you haven’t read that novel yet!)

Version 1: April 2, 2020 post

Version 2: April 27, 2020 post

Then, on September 11, 2022, while Jan was in Provence, the Mitford Museum shared Jan’s news that she would soon begin writing another book . . . with this caveat: “Yes, you read that right. Jan is working on another book while in France. Word is it will NOT be a Mitford book. Jan says do NOT whine.”

As much as I longed for another Mitford book, I was thrilled for Jan to write whatever she wanted to write. And I did not whine.

So when Jan spoke at the Mitford Spring Tea, I had no idea about the momentous announcement in store for us. I was sitting about twelve feet from the lectern, and I just recorded Jan’s speech, as I usually do, in small segments to make them easier to share. The video is unsteady because I occasionally looked over rather than through my phone camera. Once I inadvertently hit the wrong button and didn’t capture one of the most important things she said, but it’s indelibly engraved in my mind and on my heart, so I’ve inserted it from memory in the transcript below. I’m just thankful I captured most of Jan’s announcement! Many thanks to Mitford fan Melissa Smith of Smith Family Resources for combining my short snippets into a single video.

 

 

First Jan shared the heartbreaking loss of her mother in 2016, her wonderful daughter Candace in 2021, and her brother in 2022. With so much sorrow, she said, “There was really nothing left in me to write with.”

Eventually, however, Jan made herself start writing again. In fact, the book she started in France was her autobiography—a book I have personally urged her to write. But she said it just wasn’t working. So when she came across a Mitford short story she had started writing in 2008, she decided to work on it as an exercise. She said (and this is the part I missed recording), “I was laughing, and I was crying, and I was at home in Mitford.”

Jan’s voice and countenance changed when she said that—you could see just how glad she was to be back in Mitford. When I spoke to her in the receiving line after the tea, I couldn’t stop weeping as I told her what a joy it is to see how God is using Mitford to bless her and to make her laugh and cry and feel at home in Mitford just as her books have done for millions of readers around the world for thirty years. As thrilled as I am about the new novel, I’m even more delighted about that.

The publication date has not yet been announced. However, it appears that this novel will pick up where To Be Where You Are left off.

Meanwhile, now is a good time to revisit the whole series while we eagerly await the new book. I invite you to join us in the Mitford Book Club on Facebook for an in-depth discussion of At Home in Mitford, beginning in July. This is also a great way to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the first Mitford novel. Whether this is your first read or your fifteenth, you’ll feel right at home!

If you’re new to Mitford, here’s a list of all the Mitford books in order—in all available formats.

I’m also making plans for a separate group reread of the whole series for all Mitford fans—probably one book a month—and will be announcing details soon. If you’d like to keep up with such opportunities and other Mitford news, please sign up for my All Things Mitford Newsletter.

Let’s all celebrate this wonderful news of another Mitford novel! Please leave a comment about why you love Mitford.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

“My readers often make suggestions to me—and I listen to what you have to say. I don’t always do what you have to say.

“My readers have whined a lot. ‘When is another book coming out?’ ‘Please don’t let Father Tim die!’ It’s like, would you kill the goose that laid the golden egg?

“I know you’ll be relieved that if I do write another book, he’s not gonna die! Pretty soon, he’s going to be older than I am, so I don’t know.

“So, you’ve been asking me that for a long time, and I’ve been really not knowing whether I’m going to write another book.

“To Be Where You Are came out in 2017 and then Bathed in Prayer. Bathed in Prayer was pulled from a lot of other books, so it was not a big writing job to do that.

“I lost my mother in 2016, my wonderful daughter in 2021, my brother in 2022. And I would just say that there was really nothing left in me to write with. You know, you’ve gotta have something to write with. It’s like the aquifer…. The aquifer is the water supply that runs underground that we don’t see and the little fresh springs pop up all along from that aquifer. So I had no aquifer.

“I made myself start writing again. And it was not a Mitford book. It was an autobiography—something that you all have asked me to do over and over again. And I was really trying, and I was making headway, but it didn’t feel right. Something was missing and I didn’t know what it was. Because if I’m going to write, if I’m going to sit down to a year and half, possibly two years of tedium as well as joy, then I want to have a good time! And yet I was not having a good time.

“So I was scrolling through my computer one day through some old stuff that I had written, and one was a short story set in Mitford. 2008 was when I had started it, and I never could figure out what to do with it. This thing—where does it go? I couldn’t find a plot line for it. I thought, well, you know, this other book is not working out. Maybe I’ll do this as an exercise. I’ll work on this story as an exercise, and that will sort of get me going again. So I started on that old story, and I realized I was having a good time.

<Note from Mary Jo: Alas, at this point I hit the wrong button on my phone and missed one of the most important things Jan said! However, it’s engraved indelibly on my mind and my heart. She said, “I was laughing, and I was crying, and I was at home in Mitford.”>

“You know that’s what you do when you go to Mitford. So it just felt at home. I just felt like I’m home. I have said three times now that I’m not going to write another Mitford book, and yet, here I am…doing this?

“So, just for you—and for me, I am currently writing the 15th Mitford novel.”