A Home for All Seasons

A Home for All Seasons is Gavin’s first book. A work of non-fiction, it was published by Atlantic Books in hardback and e-book on 2 June 2022 and released as an audiobook by W.F. Howes Ltd in October 2022. A paperback edition follows in May 2023.

The book launched at the Hay Festival on 3 June, when it was one of the House & Garden picks of the Festival, followed by events in Pembridge, Gavin’s village, and at Wigmore Hall. Further appearances include a North Cornwall Book Festival Author Tour, the Penzance Lit Fest, the Three Choirs Festival, The Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Wells Literature Festival. He has also been interviewed about the book by Michael Portillo on Times Radio and by Georgina Godwin on Monocle 24, as well as by the BBC in Hereford and Worcester, in Cornwall and in Gloucestershire.

‘A tender and illuminating history of an overlooked world.’
– Horatio Clare

‘Truly a revelation on every page.’
– Petroc Trelawny

‘A moving, memorable book about how we make our lives inside architecture, and how we are changed in turn by the places we call home. With passion and precision, Gavin Plumley pushes the boundaries of memoir and scholarship and shows that the chronicle of a house can contain the grand history of a whole world as well as the sweet, urgent story of a life: all that intimacy within the vastness of historical time.’
– Richie Hofmann (Author of A Hundred Lovers)

‘Charming — a love-letter to home, history, and nature.’
– Leah Broad (Author of Quartet)

‘What starts out as a straightforward house history morphs into something else, a wide-ranging meditation on place and past, taking in climate change, rural depopulation, the Reformation and folklore.’
Literary Review

‘A richly textured book, replete with illuminating discoveries and observations.’
Country Life

A selection of readers’ reviews:
‘This is a beautifully crafted, nostalgic and sepia-tinged memoir.’

‘Working with several interlocking cycles chiefly the seasons in art, farming and Elizabethan England, this book is also an extended meditation on the big issues of today and their effects on village life.’

‘Beautifully written and structured, Plumley’s writing is vivid and captures bucolic scenes perfectly.’

‘A wonderful meeting of memoir and landscape, both rigorous and freewheeling, expansive and intimate, rendered in dreamy prose.’

‘It’s rare that non-fiction has the power to transport you so completely and catch you up in a world that you have never known, and that you never want to leave. Jan Morris is the only other writer who has entranced me in such a way. I have not stopped thinking about it since.’

‘I don’t think I’ve binged a book this fast in years! The way the author pulls together so many subjects is incredible. I’m in awe of his knowledge.’

‘An enchanting read. From a simple question about the age of a house, this book takes you on a much wider journey, encompassing art, literature, history and nature, as well as the inescapable fragility of life.’

Full details of the book can be found on the publisher’s website by clicking here.