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The Chateau
  • Published: 25 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529990461
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $24.99

The Chateau

Formats & editions
Paperback
25 Aug 2026
Paperback
1 July 2012
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A nostalgic tale of two lovers journeying through the French countryside, The Château is a masterful evocation of the beauties of Europe from the author of So Long, See You Tomorrow

A nostalgic tale of two lovers' journey through post-war France, from the author of SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW

It is 1948 and a young American couple arrive in war-torn France for a long holiday.

Full of anticipation and enthusiasm, Harold and Barbara Rhodes find themselves enchanted by the glamour and charm of Paris. But as they travel further into the countryside they meet a people still overcoming devastation, and their reception at the Château Beaumesnil is not all the open-hearted Americans could wish for.

Luxuriously meandering and joyously observant, The Château sees William Maxwell bring to life the soul-enriching experience of what it means to truly travel and open oneself up to new life.

‘Surprising on every page... I ended The Château feeling very sad that it was over’ Brandon Taylor, author of Real Life

‘Reading The Château is like meeting a very old friend with whom the conversation is always spontaneous, intimate, restorative and unpredictable’
Salley Vickers

  • Published: 25 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529990461
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

William Maxwell

William Maxwell (1908-2000) was born in Illinois. He was the author of a distinguished body of work: six novels, three short story collections, an autobiographical memoir and a collection of literary essays and reviews. A New Yorker editor for 40 years, he helped to shape the prose and careers of John Updike, John Cheever, John O'Hara, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Eudora Welty. His novel, So Long Tomorrow won the American Book Award, and in 1995 he received the PEN/Malamud Award.
WM

Also by William Maxwell

So Long, See You Tomorrow
The Old Man at the Railroad Crossing and Other Tales
The Element of Lavishness
The Folded Leaf
Time Will Darken It
They Came Like Swallows
All the Days and Nights
See all

Praise for The Chateau

Not just a book of the year but now one of my desert island books.

Adrian Turpin, Herald Scotland

Delicious and dead-on... All the embarrassments and gratifications of European travel are preserved in the amber of Maxwell's much pondered, seemingly casual prose.

New Yorker

As the voices of Austen, Turgenev and Tolstoy have survived, so will Maxwell's. There aren't many truly great writers among us. William Maxwell is one of them

The Times

It's hard not to see it as a work of genius

Times Literary Supplement

He combines educated intelligent and instinctive apprehension of human complexity in a way that would have earned Henry James' approval. William Maxwell is the very model of what a novelist should be

Independent on Sunday

Perennially endearing

Spectator

Reading The Chateau is like meeting a very old friend with whom the conversation is always spontaneous, intimate, restorative and unpredictable

Salley Vickers

Surprising on every page... I ended The Château feeling very sad that it was over

Brandon Taylor, author of Real Life