Books
THE EYE ART BOOK
I've written a new book! It's full of gorgeous images covering the entire history of eye art.
To be completely honest, the book got away from me. When I started out, I thought, "I'm going to put together a little book of eyes in art, before and after the Lover's Eyes I love so much. Oh boy, I hope there are enough examples for an entire book. I wonder how I'll pad it out..."
Well. Eyes go back to the earliest surviving examples of human art, and they're symbolically linked to the creation of good, evil, and nothing less than the whole universe. They're strange. They're mystical. They're omniscient. But they're also light-hearted, witty, and delightfully romantic. The more I started looking for eyes, the more I started seeing them everywhere in both historical and contemporary art.
For example:
Egyptian wedjet eyes. Apotropaic evil eye talismans. Hindu and Buddhist third eyes. St. Lucy. Ex votos. Renaissance emblems. Queen Elizabeth's spy circle. Masonic symbolism. Alchemy. The All-seeing eye. Lover's eye miniatures. Curiosity cabinet eye models. Optometrist folk signs. The Countess of Castiglione. Post-war surrealism. Pop art. Pop surrealism. Embroidery art. Schiaparelli. Rebus jewelry. John Derian, Astier de Villatte, and other art-meets-homewares designers. Gucci. And many of your favorite contemporary artists.
What happens when you put together a book is that you notice something you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. My greatest concern as I was deep my book-writing cave with a messy bun and reading glasses surrounded by stacks of books and slips of paper and mugs of tea, was that all the crazy research wouldn't hang together. But what actually happened is that because all eye art has elements of the strange, the sacred, and the surreal, the oldest works have a contemporary edge to them, and the newest works have an ancient resonance.
I'm just adding some final edits to the book. Please note that this book cover is a placeholder, these images are a teaser while we finalize copyright, and I have know idea what the final price will be. :)
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VINTAGE BOOKS (US) & ONE WORLD (UK)
SHAKESPEARE & ME
38 GREAT WRITERS, ACTORS AND DIRECTORS ON WHAT THE BARD MEANS TO THEM - AND US
I had the most fun writing this book. I had tea with Sir Ben Kingsley at the Ritz in New York, where I was skewered with his sharp but twinkling gaze and tried in vain to hold my own. I got to know Brian Cox, who found me a place to live in London - I couldn't have done the book without him. I went to the Globe with Harriet Walter, whose clever mind is matched by her kindness. I saw Ralph Fiennes backstage after playing Prospero (for a dizzying moment, shirtless!), and brought him to tea with Harold Bloom, who was charmed but otherwise unimpressed and called him "my dear". I also got to meet F. Murray Abraham at Harold's, and they were a riot together, both larger than life. I traveled to Stratford to call on the legendary voice coach, Cicely Berry, and then I went to the theatre, where I was introduced to Sir Patrick Stewart. I then sat in the row behind him, next to two over-perfumed, buxom, whispering ladies. At one point, he turned around and shushed loudly, and to this day I hope he didn't think the chatter came from me! I met Tobias Menzies for coffee, and in an effort to look chic and professional I wore equestrian boots with heels that were much too high, and I was terrified I would trip and fall down. I visited Maxine Hong Kingston at her home in Berkeley, and she was kind and thoughtful, and she gave me some CDs of her musician son. I had a quick cup of tea with Rory Kinnear outside the National Theatre, and a more talented and unassuming actor you could never meet. I spent many precious hours with the very great and the very gentle James Earl Jones on the phone talking about his decades-long love of Othello, and he kindly invited me backstage to a couple of his Broadway performances.
The book itself is full of insights and experiences from these (and many other) great Shakespeareans. It's timeless but contemporary, erudite but entertaining, about them but also about all of us and about Shakespeare's enduring appeal.
N.B. This is the UK cover, which is lovely. The US version is not to my liking, but the contents are the same.
RANDOM HOUSE (US), PENGUIN (UK), XILIN PRESS (CHINA)
A TRUTH UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED
33 REASONS WHY WE CAN'T STOP READING JANE AUSTEN
I think I must have read EVERY ESSAY EVER WRITTEN about Jane Austen to put together this book. I've put it in caps since the research was possibly excessive, but I don't mean it to sound angry since it was not at all a hardship because my happy place is in musty libraries with books precariously stacked to my chin. Of all the essays I read, I picked the very best: the ones that help us get to the very heart of why we love Jane Austen so very much. I wanted to cross the space between academia and real reading, since most academia is dry and dull and pointless, but there really is a way in which reading about reading can help us get more out our favorite books.
About half of the essays are from the classic great authors and critics, and the other half were freshly commissioned by today's great authors and critics.
PENGUIN (UK)
AFTERWORD TO JANE AUSTEN'S NORTHANGER ABBEY
Jane Austen wrote 236 of these pages with her sublime comic gothic romance. I wrote 11 as an essay at the very back of the book, but you cannot imagine how delighted I am to be not only attached in any way, shape, or form to the great Jane, but to be in one of the volumes of Penguin's English LIbrary with their jaunty little penguin and the iconic graphic covers by Coralie Bickford-Smith.
This paperback edition with my essay is currently unavailable in the U.S., but if you're interested in the clothbound editions with these designs by Coralie Bickford-Smith, here's the complete set of Jane Austen (which no home should be without!).
GILES (uk)
LOVER'S EYES
EYE MINIATURES FROM THE SKIER COLLECTION
I'm honored to have had my work acquired by the Skiers for their private collection - which is, by all accounts, the largest in the world - and to be featured in their book amongst the contemporary artists working in the Georgian tradition. (2021)
PHAIDON (uk)
THE JEWELRY BOOK
BY MELANIE GRANT
Hailed as the best coffee table book of the year (2025) by L'Officiel, Melanie Grant's authoritative volume gathers together a stunning collection of jewelry from classic and contemporary makers and artists. I'm thrilled to be included amongst such an incredibly august company.
SIMON & SCHUSTER (us)
ART FOR EVERYONE
BY LIZ LIDGETT
Try to be anything but cheerful looking through this book. Liz is a bubbling, joyful gallery owner with an eye for art that makes you happy - and is actually affordable. Enjoy the book from the comfort of your sofa, or stop in to her gallery to chat with her and see my work if you find yourself in Des Moines. (2026)
ROCK POINT (US)
BEAUTIFUL LIVING
BY VALERIE DARDEN
I have three addictions: tea, cookies, and decor books. This is an absolutely beautiful book, and it combines charm with sophistication, as well as old-world style with contemporary lightheartedness. Valerie was one of my first collectors who was a decorator (Brexton Cole Interiors), and if you play "Where's Waldo" you'll find a pair of my Lover's Eye plates on one or two of the pages... (2024)