Treasure Palaces: Great Writers Visit Great Museums

From Julian Barnes and Andrew O’Hagan to Ann Patchett and Tim Winton, great writers give us personal tours of the museums they treasure.

Who doesn’t love a good museum? Whether grand and impressive, or irreverent and amusing, museums are places to lose – and find – ourselves, palaces of the imagination. And they have long been sources of inspiration to the most creative among us.

Treasure Palaces brings together over twenty of the world’s greatest writers to give their own personal tours of the museums that have awed, haunted and inspired them. The result is a fascinating look into the world of literature and museums, where Margaret Drabble, John Burnside, Claire Messud and Michael Morpurgo open the doors to their favourite places and invite us inside.

Explore the Villa San Michele on the sunny island of Capri with Ali Smith, as she delves into the life of its eccentric founder. Step off the busy roads of Paris with Jacqueline Wilson, as she dives into the uncanny world of the Musee de la Poupee. Discover an Egyptian temple in the heart of Copenhagen with Alan Hollinghurst, and the mystery of Sibelius’s silence in Helsinki with Julian Barnes.

Travelling all over the world, from London to New York, Zagreb to Karachi, and exploring a range of museums, from the ABBA Museum to the Museum of Broken Relationships, the essays in this collection will leave you inspired, longing to revisit your favourite treasure palace or itching to find a new one to explore.

Publisher: Profile Books

Hardback

2016

ISBN: 9781781256909