These articles appear on page 142 of the September 17, 2025 edition of Country Life magazine. By Nick Trend (Thames & Hudson, £50)In 1988, John Mortimer took a break from his ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’ books to write Summer’s Lease. The novel centres on a London housewife, Molly Pargeter, who rents a villa in Tuscany for her family’s summer holiday. Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox. Michael ProdgerArts & Crafts Chronicler: The Life and Work of Sir Lawrence WeaverBy Lawrence Trevelyan Weaver and Timothy Brittain-Catlin (Lund Humphries, £45)Lawrence Weaver (1876–1930) is a figure at the heart of the early history of Country Life.