Librería Samer Atenea
Kálamo Books
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
One mile southwest of Winchester, Tennessee, stand the weathered ruins of Hundred Oaks Castle, once one of the region’s most remarkable landmarks. Behind its fire-scarred walls lies the story of an extraordinary family, an ambitious young dreamer, and a house whose history spans war, politics, tragedy, faith, destruction and renewal.The story begins in Owensboro, Kentucky, where Albert Smith Marks is thrust into adulthood by the untimely death of his father. Eventually settling in Winchester, Marks studies law, becomes a successful attorney, serves during the Civil War and loses his right leg in battle. He later enters politics, rising first to the judiciary and ultimately becoming Governor of Tennessee.But it is his gifted son, Arthur Handly Marks, who becomes inseparable from the story of Hundred Oaks. A poet, prize-winning orator and romantic dreamer, Arthur travels abroad and returns inspired by the architecture, literature and traditions of Europe. He envisions transforming the Marks family home into something extraordinary: a romantic Victorian castle of towers, turrets and unusual architectural features.Arthur never lives to see his dream completed. Tragedy descends upon the family as death claims Governor Marks and then Arthur himself while still a young man. Arthur’s brother, Albert Davis Marks, becomes a prominent Nashville attorney and marries into the celebrated Belle Meade family, only to meet his own tragic end. Three remarkable lives, each filled with promise, are cut short.Yet Arthur’s Castle survives.Through Arthur’s cousin, John Marks Handly, a Paulist priest, Hundred Oaks begins an unexpected new chapter. The Paulist Fathers acquire the estate for use as their Southern headquarters and complete much of the Castle Arthur had envisioned. For more than fifty years they occupy and care for Hundred Oaks, becoming an important part of both the Castle’s history and the surrounding community.The Marks family story also reaches far beyond Tennessee. Among Arthur’s relatives is Sir John Templeton, who builds an immense fortune abroad and receives a knighthood - an intriguing irony considering Arthur’s own fascination with the romantic world of knights, castles and chivalry.After the Paulists leave Hundred Oaks, the Castle again enters a period of uncertainty. Years later, an East Tennessee businesswoman discovers the property at auction and gives the aging house a remarkable new purpose. Hundred Oaks becomes a home and workplace for mentally disadvantaged adults, and once again its rooms are filled with life.Then, in 1990, disaster strikes. A devastating fire sweeps through Hundred Oaks, leaving much of the great Castle in ruins and a community mourning the loss of a place that had become part of its collective memory.But the story does not end with the fire.Drawing upon years of research, historical records, photographs, family history and surviving evidence of the Castle itself, this book traces Hundred Oaks from the Marks family through the Paulist era, its later rebirth and its ultimate destruction. It is the story of the people who built it, dreamed within it, cared for it and refused to allow its memory to disappear.Hundred Oaks Castle is a story of tragedy and glory - of ambition interrupted, dreams inherited and history preserved. Like the phoenix, the Castle may have fallen to fire, but its story continues to rise from the ashes.This volume is the first in Judge David Marlowe’s three-volume Hundred Oaks collection, tracing the history, literature, and enduring legacy of Hundred Oaks Castle and the Marks family of Winchester, Tennessee.
