Title Deeds
Liza Campbell
352 pages, Hardcover
ISBN: 0385658001
ISBN13:
Language: English
Publish: January 1, 2006
20th CenturyAutobiographyBiographyBiography MemoirFamilyHistoricalHistoryMemoirNonfictionScotland
A Charmed Life tells the story of Liza Campbell, the last child to be born at the impressive and renowned Cawdor Castle, the same locale featured in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It was at the historical ancestral home that Liza’s seemingly idyllic fairytale childhood began to resemble a nightmare. Increasingly overwhelmed by his enormous responsibilities, Liza’s father Hugh, the twenty-fifth Thane of Cawdor, tipped into madness fueled by drink, drugs, and extramarital affairs. Over the years, the castle was transformed into an arena of reckless extravagance and terrifying domestic violence, as Liza and her siblings watched their father destroy himself, his family, and their centuries-old legacy. Painstakingly honest, thoroughly entertaining, and sharply written, Campbell’s contemporary fairytale tells of growing up as a maiden in a castle where ancient curses and grisly events from centuries ago live on between its stone walls.“[A] courageous memoir . . . a page turner set among moats, drawbridges, and portcullises both real and metaphorical.” —Vogue“Superbly written.” —Harper’s Bazaar“Poignant . . . lovely.” —Entertainment Weekly“Edged with relentless wit . . . [A Charmed Life is a] nightmarish memoir that gives fiction a run for its money.” —Kirkus Reviews”Intriguing…[a] highly readable story…extraordinary.” —Tucson Citizen