A Castle in Spain

Matthew Parris

Travel

Penguin Books, Ltd.

Invective and insult are alive and well. This book brings together classic and modern jibes, well-known and obscure, on subjects that range from anatomy and race to smells and age.

Scorn with Added Vitriol

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Hamish Hamilton Ltd.

Matthew Parris's A Castle in Spain is one man's attempt to transform a magnificent forgotten ruin into his own castle.Walking in the Pyrenees one spring morning Matthew Parris stumbled upon a magnificent ruined mansion standing on the edge of a line of huge cliffs. Later he was to discover that parts of the house dated back to the 14th century though it had not been completed until 1559; and that it had survived two massive earthquakes before falling into disrepair in the early 1960s. A few years later, seduced by 'one of those foolish challenges that grip us in middle life', Parris bought the house, L'Avenc, and set about restoring it to its full glory. This delightful book chronicles it all: the original discovery, the attempts to discover its history, and then the long effortful years trying to bring it back to life in the face of scepticism from family, friends and Spanish neighbours. The original edition of A Castle in Spain was published in 2005 when the renovations were a work in progress; this new edition triumphantly records all that has happened since.'Stands apart... This Englishman's castle might have started as a dream, but it has ended up being an extraordinary reality' Sunday Times'So infectious is his enthusiasm for L'Avenc and the dramatic, unvisited landscape of Collsacabra, that I wanted to leave at once to explore it ... And it's all just a few miles away from the Costa Brava!' Christopher Hudson, Daily Mail Matthew Parris had a short career in the Foreign Office where one of his tasks was to distribute incoming valedictory despatches. He was a Conservative MP from 1979 to 1986, since when he has worked as a journalist. He is the author of A Castle in Spain, Parting Shots, and A Spanish Ambassador's Suitcase. He divides his time between Derbyshire (where his old constituency was situated) and east London.

Castle in Spain

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

VIKING

Reference

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

VIKING (PENG)

Look Behind You!: Sketches and Follies from the Commons

Robson Books Ltd.

Inca-Kola is the funny, absorbing account of Matthew Parris’s fourth trip to Peru, on a bizarre holiday which takes him among bandits, prostitutes, peasants and riots. He and his three companions seem to head into trouble, not away from it, and he describes the troubles, curiosities and wonders they meet with the spell-binding fascination of a traveller relating adventures over the campfire. 
‘A backpacker’s classic: atmospheric, touching, instructive and compulsively readable’ The Times

Inca Kola : A Traveller's Tale of Peru

South America

ORION PAPERBACKS

In this highly entertaining, revealing and salutary expedition into the swamps of British politics, award-winning columnist and broadcaster Matthew Parris presents the low side of high office. About the author Matthew Parris entered politics and was an MP for seven years before quitting Parliament to present the TV series Weekend World regularly on radio, TV.

Great Parliamentary Scandals

Politics & Social Sciences

PARRIS, Matthew

Politics & Government

Robson Books

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Books by Matthew Parris