<p>Decades after spending a summer in the Irish countryside with her parents-author Deborah Love and National Book Award winner Peter Matthiessen-Rue takes her young family back to Ireland to revisit locales from that season in the sixties. As a guide, she has her mother's poetic book, Annaghkeen, named for the castle that overlooked their home in Galway.</p><p><br></p><p>What begins as a simple, nostalgic trip quickly becomes something far more complex. As Rue approaches Annaghkeen Castle and digs deeper into her parents' literary legacy, a trove of memories is unearthed, forcing her to reckon with a childhood fraught with the stormy energy of two brilliant parents often at odds with each other and their children.</p><p><br></p><p>Both a rich and informative travelogue and a profoundly emotional memoir, <em>Castles ' Ruins</em> celebrates the triumph of creative success while frankly appraising the often-terrible costs a family must pay for it.</p><p><br></p><p><strong><u>Praise for </u><em><u>Castles ' Ruins:</u></em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgba(101, 103, 105, 1)">"Rue Matthiessen's memoir is unforgettable, a true testament to human will and the healing nature of understanding and owning one's truth, even while wishing that things might have been different."</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(101, 103, 105, 1)"> </span><strong style="color: rgba(101, 103, 105, 1)">--<em>Story Circle Network</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">"Matthiessen's powerful storytelling vividly portrays her childhood and coming-of-age years....thought-provoking and moving."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><strong style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">--Edith Wairimu,&nbsp;<em>Readers' Favorite</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">"Rue Matthiessen's heartfelt memoir,&nbsp;</span><em style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">Castles ' Ruins</em><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;is, in essence, configured like a Celtic cross.... we see how the figure of the circle is at the very center of Matthiessen's being. Celtic tradition calls for both mourning and celebrating at death. Precisely the emotions and the rituals that Rue Matthiessen gives the reader in this complex, deeply felt work."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><strong style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">--Lou Ann Walker,&nbsp;<em>The East Hampton Star</em></strong></p><p><strong style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)"><em>​</em></strong></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">"</span><em style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">Castles ' Ruins</em><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;is a masterpiece, a must-read for anyone who sees beauty in the broken, finds solace in the unraveled, and believes that stories, like ancient stones, hold the power to illuminate the paths of the present."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><strong style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">--<em>Midnights Book Tours</em></strong></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">​</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">"Prepare to be transported through the vibrant landscapes of Ireland as Rue Matthiessen unravels a captivating tale in her memoir,&nbsp;</span><em style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">Castles ' Ruins</em><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">.... a lyrical dance of memories, familial bonds, and the enduring legacy of literary brilliance."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><strong style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">--<em>Twins Reading Books</em></strong></p><p><br></p>