Anyone who has ever wandered through the ruins of some ancient castle and tried to imagine how it was in its prime, and to conjure up from the crumbling walls the people who once inhabited it, will relish this remarkable book, for nothing quite like this has ever been done before.
Sheila Sancha has always been fascinated by castles, and has spent eight years exploring ruins and piecing together the shape of the original buildings. But it was more than the buildings that interested her; as she says, "I wanted to put the people back in the castle." She has combined her skills as writer, photographer, and illustrator in such an inspired way that throughout the book you can find, as part of her photographs of what still exists, delicate line drawings that show not only the original shape of the kitchens, banqueting halls, and other castle sections before they were ruined, but what the people wore and what kinds of weapons and tools they used.
This not only stirs the imagination, but fills in gaps of history. There is a map of the British Isles showing where the ruins are and the location of each of the ninety-three castles listed. Even if you have no chance to visit the places themselves, your imagination and curiosity will find infinite satisfaction in this book.
—from the dust jacket
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