Within the caste into which I was born, daughter of a daughter of a daughter, I was ‘nobody’—no dowry, an awkward brain, and unfashionable looks—dark hourglass, not blonde beanpole. Unless I married the right kind of man, of course–an eldest son with a big house. This was the 70s, and you probably don’t believe me, but many girls still went the full Jane Austen. So I’m perfectly qualified to tell you about the best books that centre on a big house as metaphor, a major character or a massive plot point in a novel. And, reader, I swerved marrying a man for his house too.
I’ve loved this book since I was a teenager, but I always feel frustrated and angry at Miss Havisham’s entrapment of Estella and Pip. Central to the story is Satis House, a metaphor for getting stuck in life—its name is very close to Stasis.
The original end of the novel works much better for me. Pip and Estella meet by chance in the street and part for the last time. The ‘new’ ending has them go off together against a backdrop of burned-down Satis House, thus removing the irony of the book’s title. Although there is the heavy-handed metaphor of the death of the house freeing them, I prefer that it retains its static power and condemns their expectations forever.
'His novels will endure as long as the language itself' Peter Ackroyd
Dickens's haunting late novel depicts the education and development of a young man, Pip, as his life is changed by a series of events - a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - and he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'. This definitive edition includes appendices on Dickens's original ending, giving an illuminating glimpse into a…
This is one of the oddest books I have ever read. It concerns Merricat Blackwood from whose point of view the story is told. Something awful has happened, and the characters go on living after the demolition of a once-comfortable lifestyle. The dysfunctional family harbors secrets, but they hardly matter compared to the setting and the strange characters that seem to grow from the house like fungus.
Then it isn’t just their former lives that are ruined, but the actual house, roofless, burnt out, and semi-abandoned—but the sisters continue to live in the ruins. I spent a lot of time trying to work out the practicalities of living without a roof.
Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister, Constance, and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.
When I was nine, I came across The Last Battle—the last of the Narnia books. I had no idea what it was and wept and howled at the end, looking frantically for more of the same. I roared through them and was miserable to find C.S. Lewis had died shortly beforehand, as I wanted to write to him and ask him to write more.
I was wholly entranced by Narnia—the endless winter, the Turkish delight, the children living a different, grander, splendid life in a parallel place. But it was the moment in Prince Caspian when they were flipped back from a railway platform to Narnia. Specifically, to ruined Cair Paravel (roll it around your tongue), the gorgeous palace where they had reigned, that enchanted me the most.
Their gradual realization that these ruins were their familiar home (1300 years have passed since they were kings and queens) is so beautifully done. This may be because Lewis based this scene on the emotional pull of derelict cliff-top Dunluce Castle, Co Antrim, near where he stayed as a child with his beloved lost mother.
A full-colour paperback edition of Prince Caspian, book four in the classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. This edition is complete with full-cover cover and interior art by the original illustrator, Pauline Baynes.
The Pevensie siblings are back to help a prince denied his rightful throne as he gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honour between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.
A battle is about to begin in Prince Caspian, the fourth book in…
If you think Georgette Heyer is all sprigged muslin, firm-jawed heroes, forthright heroines, and cod-Austen visits to Bath, think again. This is a bizarre novel, indeed.
It’s not even one of her "mysteries" like Footsteps in the Dark—fairly straightforward murder stories where something has to be solved. Instead, Penhallow is a house, a seething breeding ground for horrible people intent on doing awful things to each other.
Each character is drawn in frighteningly frank detail, so you are left in no doubt of their weaknesses and peccadillos. Penhallow is like some kind of disgusting nest, and the manipulative patriarch Adam Penhallow, disabled in some unspecified way, has dragged all the best antiques into the huge drawing room where he infests a vast Tudor bed and holds court every night.
Nearly everyone hates him but can’t break away. He likes to keep his family, illegitimate and otherwise, under his thumb with bribes, secrets, and broken promises. The tension is almost unbearable, and everything implodes. I loved every word.
A family tyrant whose murder has shocking and far-reaching consequences…
Hated for his cruel and vicious nature, yet ruling his family with an iron hand from his sickbed, tyrannical patriarch Adam Penhallow is found murdered the day before his birthday. His entire family had assembled for his birthday celebration, and every one of them had the ways and means to commit the crime. As accusation and suspicion turn in one direction, then another, the claws and backstabbing come out, and no one is exempt from the coming implosion.
"Miss Heyer's characters act and speak with an ease and conviction that…
Susan Howatch walked away from her career as a highly successful novelist some years ago, but she’s well worth a read. Penmarric is the name of another Cornish mansion that is the fixed point in a swirling family saga. She took as her template the lives of the Plantagenet King Henry II and his powerful wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, plus their warring sons, with the house Penmarric standing in for the throne they fought over. You don’t need to know medieval history to enjoy the yarn.
Divided into five sections, each is narrated by a different family member. The action kicks off in 1890 with Mark Castallack clapping eyes on his complicated, older, future wife, Janna, in a churchyard. His mother, Maud, has directed her whole life towards regaining possession of the family estate, left to her cousin Giles instead of her because of primogeniture, and Maud was the wrong sex.
The different sections retell events from alternative points of view. When horrible characters get to tell their own stories, you can see their experience and begin to sympathise. It's all dark, clever, and gripping, and the house looms over everything. It's a shivering, shuddering comfort read.
From the acclaimed author of Cashelmara: the “grippingly readable” New York Times–bestselling saga of a noble English family torn apart (The Sunday Times).
Overlooking the bleak cliffs of Cornwall is Penmarric, the ancestral home of Mark Castallack. The stunning gothic manor is the picture of English nobility, wealth, and comfort. But as the twentieth century unfolds, those behind Penmarric’s towering walls face nothing short of disaster. As Mark and his children struggle to save their home and their aristocratic way of life, they must engage in a bitter fight against greed, ambition, betrayal, and even murder.
My book spans 80 years, exploring class, money, and four generations of motherhood, none straightforward. During her gap year in India, something awful happens to Damson Hayes, shaping everything that follows. The story features two crumbling houses: Abbots Bourne, a dilapidated Tudorbethan mansion, and Castle Hey, a charmingly embellished Gothick house. Damson’s grandmother, Sarah, grew up at Abbots Bourne.
Munty, born into the grocery trade, unexpectedly inherits Castle Hey and a title due to primogeniture after all other male heirs have been killed. Damson is his only child. Both houses shape the lives of their inhabitants, often disastrously, leading to death and unhappiness, but also to rebirth.
Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks left by browsing deer, predatory weasels, and inquisitive bears, skunks, and raccoons. Master tracker Kim A Cabrera provides photos and illustrations.
Winner of the prestigious John Burroughs Medal, Russell also writes about community, a sense of place, and a renewed connection with the nonhuman world. She explores the health of…
What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs
Did a red fox pass this way? Could that be a bobcat print there in the dirt? Do those tracks belong to a domestic dog or a coyote? Combining lyrical memoir with an introduction to wildlife tracking, What Walks This Way explores the joys of learning to recognize the traces of the creatures with whom we share our world.
The nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife-mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice-near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. With wit and compassion, she guides readers through…
