Jan Karon writing new Mitford novel

NEW YORK (AP) — Jan Karon is going back to Mitford.

Nearly a decade after the novelist announced she was done with her multimillion-selling Mitford Years series, she has signed up with G.P. Putnam's Sons for two more installments about the fictional North Carolina town and such residents as Father Tim Kavanaugh and his wife, Cynthia. The next release, "Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good," is scheduled for September.

Karon said in a statement issued Tuesday by Putnam that her decision to resume the Mitford series proves that one should "never say never." She has written nine previous Mitford books, most recently "Light From Heaven," published in 2005.

Putnam is an imprint of Penguin Random House.