The book, to be launched next week, is different from other books about Hungarian castles, most of which are just picture albums with limited (and often incorrect or outdated) information. Mesélő Kastélyok seeks to tell a castle?s whole story, with beautiful pictures ? photographs from the author?s private collection and archive images ? and detailed histories, drawing on original materials, such as journals from their residents.
?My aim was to revive the famous and the unknown (but just as interesting) residents of these castles, which accounted for half of the country?s wealth ? the odd ones, the spinsters and the villains ? in the interest that their fates might be educational for us all,? the author Zsolt Podhorányi writes.
?Castle residents led special lives?they did not have to worry about income?they had more time for themselves, their desires, their unfulfilled ambitions, and social life, and these show us a dynamic picture of human aspiration,? he writes
