Review by Booklist Review
In this delightful memoir, a midlife crisis propels a "madcap" journey from Hollywood producer to unlikely champion of a crumbling fifteenth-century manor house near Manchester, England. DePree is ready for a change when he comes across a photograph online that confirms his grandfather's story of an ancestral castle. Soon, the "clueless Yank" embraces a new purpose: to save the once-grand Hopwood Hall. He can produce big projects, but he doesn't know anything about historic restoration and doesn't have the millions it will cost. Help comes his way from a memorable cast of characters--even, eventually, from a nearby neighbor carrying a 500-year-old grudge! DePree spins his tale with charm and self-deprecating humor, especially when recounting his run-ins with British manners and vocabulary. Sincere, thoughtful reflections on being "comfortable in [one's] own skin" balance the humor nicely. Well-crafted descriptions of architectural detail, family history, and famous visitors, notably Lord Byron, add depth and interest. "By degrees" (the family's heraldic motto), Hopwood Hall's fortunes turn around, and DePree realizes he has landed precisely where he should be.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this marvelous debut, film producer DePree leaves the Hollywood hills to resurrect his British ancestral home, a 50,000-square-foot estate in the English countryside. After losing his grandfather and father in the span of two years, DePree found solace in tracing his family genealogy. He was astonished when, in 2013, while perusing the internet, he stumbled upon Hopwood Hall, the real-life 600-year-old castle that often featured in his Pap's childhood stories. During the inaugural pilgrimage with his mother and family to see it in person ("Even under clouds," he writes of the lovingly dubbed "Downton Shabby," "it was a magical sight"), DePree counted 2,710 small windows that needed repair. Determined to save the dilapidated and empty estate from ruin--despite having no construction experience--he sold his Los Angeles home and, over the next four years, dedicated his life to a daunting renovation ("It was like the hall and I had been dating, and now it was time for me to... put a ring on her finger"). While his self-deprecating humor about the challenges of navigating grants--and being somewhat clueless about English culture--entertain, it's his wonderment following some unexpected help from the community that makes this DIY fairy tale a true delight. Readers are in for a treat. (May)
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