Judy Corbett

The biggest question throughout the book is, "How can they afford this?", where the word this stands for not only the large project of restoring Gwydir Castle, but for the 10,000 small projects that make up that restoration. It is stated clearly at the start of the book that they absolutely cannot afford this property, but with some vague talk of a mother's bargaining skills and a loan they somehow pull it off. Likewise, they continually talk about these endless projects - new roofs, new walls, repairs along every square inch - and yet they only sporadically have jobs and for most of the book do not take in paying guests. I would love to see some of the prices for the restoration and the furniture they buy to go along with it; the closest we get is learning that during a bidding war for a chair at an auction they had to back out when the number crested five digits.

This question of money is the part that required the most suspension of disbelief for me, and that is saying a lot considering that we have a ghost story to deal with partway through. But if you can get past all that, it is a fantastic book of falling passionately in love with a particular place and time. The author's description of how the castle makes her feel connected to the past in a visceral, immediate, shock-and-awe way rings true for me because I've felt that twice in my life and have chased it ever since. It is a delight to read about two people whose interests run not broad but deep, very deep, into one particular time and place, and their happiness and satisfaction with their choices swept me along.… (más)

I liked it. Not loved, but for its genre, it was a pretty interesting read. And I have my librarians to thank for this because they had it randomly selected to be next to the checkout and the cover intrigued me.

Castles in the Air is a non-fiction story about a couple who eschew modern life, yearn for times gone past (uh, way way past), and are freakishly in the right place at the right time to buy a castle in Wales. What makes the story interesting from the get go is that these are not “privileged” people wanting to play at historical restoration and nostalgia. The story is about a couple with lots of education for careers that aren’t particularly lucrative who ultimately seem like real people. That’s not to say that there certainly isn’t privilege involved: it’s nice that mummy can front some of the cash payment and that they can qualify for the government to buy back a room of the castle. But overall, you can really put yourself in their shoes. And that’s kind of fun, because hey, how cool is it to buy, renovate, and live in a castle.

Most of the chapters are in chronological order and detail the major happenings of their purchase and renovation. There is also a little time focused on how, no matter how lofty the ideals, most times, they have to be compromised a bit to achieve the larger goal: like their opening for tours and doing the B&B circuit. There is a chapter dedicated to their ghost and a chapter dedicated to a rather non-nonfictional account of women from the tudorian period. I shouldn’t say that it’s “non-nonfictional.” The author provided some rather interesting information on still rooms, something I had meant to further research for a while.

There is also an interesting account of how the castle was dismantled, literally room by room, in the 1920s–as in two entire rooms from the ceiling beams to the wall paneling to the flooring were sold at auction… one room to the newspaper magnate Hearst… a la Citizen Kane.

It’s kind of nice to get to the end and understand (ok, you know it from the first chapter, but you don’t really care then) and see that they have tons of work ahead of them. See, real people never have the money to just hire out for someone to fix and improve everything in their house at once.… (más)