One Room in a Castle: Letters from Spain, France & Greece

by Karen Connelly

One Room in a Castle is an adventurous and intimate portrait of the rural Mediterranean, its culture and its inhabitants. Connelly allows the reader private glimpses of her world, and the world at large with a new collection of letters and stories based on her travels in Spain, France and Greece.''.-.-.-beautifully written . . . mixes ­autobiography, fiction, poetry and wide open spaces."--The Calgary Herald

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir

432 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Karen Connelly was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1969, to a large working class family. She's the author of eleven best-selling books of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. She has read from her work and lectured in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She has won the Pat Lowther Award for her poetry, the Governor General’s Award for her non-fiction, and Britain’s Orange Broadband Prize for New Fiction for her first novel The Lizard Cage. Karen has served on the board member of PEN Canada and has been active in the Free Burma movement. A proficient to fluent speaker of several languages, she divides her time between her home in rural Greece and her home in Toronto, Canada. She is married with a young child.

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very rarely in my reading career have I come across a story that transported me into itself; into the world it created so much so that the rain pounding on my window did not come from the clouds above Australia but fell onto the drought stricken lands of Africa or an olive grove in Greece or the tremendous pines of the Pacific Northwest. Karen Connelly spins her tales into a living, breathing story with a language that embraces you and shares with you its heat.
This book found me on accident. I was at a second hand book sale outside of my local supermarket. As I perused the shelves, I found a book slightly askew and when I went to straighten it out, something about the feeling of it, the weight in my hand, struck me. I gave the cover a look and considered the perchase but reading "Spain, France & Greece" really synched the deal.
Karen Connelly is a traveler and a writer; one of the greatest mixes you can come across. She throws herself into the places she visits and insists on meeting the people that hold it all together. She wanders behind the decisions of her heart and lives to share the stories with people that have yet to take the journey themselves.
One Room in a Castle reads in a way that you can hear the people, feel the wind, taste, touch, smell, see the countries and the cultures that Karen is exploring. Written for the traveler or the traveler to be without a plot or an end, it will love you with the passion of the Spanish, the delicacy of the French, the humor of the Greek and the history of the Gypsies.

[Kristin Maillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mostly loved this book. I mean, I loved it enough that I am glad I own a beat up second hand copy of it and I will likely reread some or all of it later in life (which is not often the case, with me). A book of letters and stories that harmonize beautifully together while also standing alone beautifully. A woman I admire and, at times, almost am jealous (or even resentful) of for her courage to explore her world by her own rules. I was transported and that's a beautiful thing for a book to do. Lovely prose. Lovely world. Lovely life. Lovely book.

[litost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another window into the young life of Connelly. This is more lyrical than Touch the Dragon; and written as short letters to us, her readers, with a few short stories & poems scattered throughout. It is like a pillow book: though some are related, you can dip in anywhere and read her impressions of the places she is staying: Basque Spain; Avignon, France; and an unnamed island in Greece. It’s a risky way to write a book because the snippets limit how much context can be given, but Connelly is a master writer and it’s a pleasure to learn what she is thinking and feeling.

[Wanda Hilaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this book to France over twelve years ago and recently read it again. I love it! Karen Connelly is a rich, deep writer. Not only did the book touch me because of my love of travel, set in three places I knew and enjoyed (Spain, France and Greece), but the book starts right in my 'hood, three blocks from my home in Calgary.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite books, a wonderfully written biography of her travels through Southern Europe. Inspired me to write and to travel - it is hard to find as she is a Canadian writer - I have bought it 2x and given it away... I always look for a copy when I am home.

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fifteen years ago when I read this collection of letters based on the author's voyages in Europe, I was blown away by the beauty of the language. It's still lyrical, but feels less revelatory than juvenile at times.

[Ryan Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this little gem of poetry and travel wisdom while in Calgary, AB, Canada and fell in love with this native daughter´s incredible imagery.

[V.Cranham · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read

[Pamela Hamilton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started reading it in summer 2020. Could not get into it. Skimmed through it in June 2021 to finish it. Too disjointed. Never knew where she was.

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

epistolary of Canadian lady who traveled to the basque country (to look for her disappeared and possibly dead sister), southern France, and Greece. all very affecting, sad, and personal.

[Linda Irvine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luminous. Has stayed with me for many years.

[Betty-Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good book, comprised of letters, thoughts, journal entries, stories from author’s travels in France, Spain and Greece. I had read it before but this time I appreciated it more. 👏🏻

[Bert Huisman]

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