--- product_id: 221579 title: "The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret" price: "143.89 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/221579-the-secret-rooms-a-true-story-of-a-haunted-castle store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret **Price:** 143.89 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret - **How much does it cost?** 143.89 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/221579-the-secret-rooms-a-true-story-of-a-haunted-castle) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description For fans of Downton Abbey , t his New York Times bestseller is the enthralling true story of family secrets and aristocratic intrigue in the days before WWI After the Ninth Duke of Rutland, one of the wealthiest men in Britain, died alone in a cramped room in the servants’ quarters of Belvoir Castle on April 21, 1940, his son and heir ordered the room, which contained the Rutland family archives, sealed. Sixty years later, Catherine Bailey became the first historian given access. What she discovered was a mystery: The Duke had painstakingly erased three periods of his life from all family records—but why? As Bailey uncovers the answers, she also provides an intimate portrait of the very top of British society in the turbulent days leading up to World War I. Review: Who doesn’t like a good mystery and a true story at that - I did not select this book because of the author or any reasons I would normally select a book for general reading. I am an avid researcher and genealogist and was looking for a book or information on Rutland Vermont. As always when you do a search you get information of similar names or sounds. The first thing about this book that caught my interest was the word “Rutland” appearing in the review, then the title itself “The Secret Room”. Who doesn’t like a good mystery and a true story at that? Many of the early settlements in this country were named after persons who founded it or after persons or places the settlers had known from their homeland. My question was, is there a connection? As of this date, the question of a link between Rutland VT and Dukes of Rutland has not been answered for me. I did however, continue to read and was not disappointed. It has taken me years to prove the history of what was only handed down information to one family line. Other family lines and researchers believed and were following the created false public perception of our family’s history. The false story was so entrenched it was included as true information into the county history of one of our states. Years of research, was conducted, looking for documentation to prove the truth not the perception of our families migrations and why. Often I tell fellow researchers to look at all possibilities even if it flies in the face of long standing family beliefs. As humans, we often feel embarrassment of our past or the past of family members and try desperately to change reality to a more interesting, less offensive or more acceptable perception in an attempt to elude or distort our history completely. I would recommend this book for its readability and content, however, I especially would recommend it to anyone studying history, genealogy or teaching how to research and write family histories. It is a fine example of why and how information in families become misleading or convoluted no matter how well intended. From time to time even in the “best” of families, deception happens. Review: Interesting work of non-fiction - Ninety-nine years have passed since the beginning of WW1, or as it was called at the time, "The Great War". Nearly a century ago, war was sparked by the assassination in Sarajevo in June, 1914, of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Because of the tangled web of alliances, most of the nations in Europe went to war. In Great Britain and the imperial territories, hundreds of thousands of young men gaily joined up to fight for their king and country in a war that was supposed to last only a few months. Four long, dreadful years later, with the fields of France and Belgium turned into trench-laced killing fields, the war was over. An entire generation of young men and the cities and villages they had come from were starkly reminded of the toll the war had taken. British historian Catherine Bailey has written one of the finest books on WW1 that I've read. Her new book, "The Secret Rooms" is a rather melodramatically-titled book about the Manners family - the Dukes of Rutland - and their castle "Belvoir" (pronounced "Beaver"). Bailey had intended to write a book about the Belvoir estate and the affect the war had on its thousands of tenants. However, once she got to work, perusing the war records at the castle, she stumbled upon a more interesting, more personal story. And that's the story she tells in "The Secret Rooms". John Manners, the 9th Duke of Rutland, died in 1940 in a back part of his huge castle. He had sequestered himself in these rooms for a few months before his death at the age of 54, working frantically on his family's legacy. The British government had sent a huge number of boxes of archives to be protected from the German bombing of London, but it was not these records the Duke was interested in. He was interested in his own family's records and he tried to weed out letters and diaries that would obscure a smallish part of his own life and how it related to the lives of his parents and siblings. But what was Rutland trying to hide, and why was he trying to hide it? In her fascinating book, Bailey takes the reader though the last 30 years or so of the 19th century and into the first half of the 20th. By looking at these years through the mysteries of the Manners family, the reader is exposed to an amazing recap of both family and societal history. I think the sub-title of the book, "A True Gothic Mystery" might scare some potential readers away. Bailey's book is more - so much more - than a silly story. She truly tells the story of a time and a place and a family. It's a great read. If you're a WW1 buff, please put this on your list. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #346,922 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #499 in Sociology of Class #506 in England History #539 in Royalty Biographies | | Customer Reviews | 3.6 out of 5 stars 2,009 Reviews | ## Images ![The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81ijqs5NGyL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Who doesn’t like a good mystery and a true story at that *by M***Y on June 23, 2015* I did not select this book because of the author or any reasons I would normally select a book for general reading. I am an avid researcher and genealogist and was looking for a book or information on Rutland Vermont. As always when you do a search you get information of similar names or sounds. The first thing about this book that caught my interest was the word “Rutland” appearing in the review, then the title itself “The Secret Room”. Who doesn’t like a good mystery and a true story at that? Many of the early settlements in this country were named after persons who founded it or after persons or places the settlers had known from their homeland. My question was, is there a connection? As of this date, the question of a link between Rutland VT and Dukes of Rutland has not been answered for me. I did however, continue to read and was not disappointed. It has taken me years to prove the history of what was only handed down information to one family line. Other family lines and researchers believed and were following the created false public perception of our family’s history. The false story was so entrenched it was included as true information into the county history of one of our states. Years of research, was conducted, looking for documentation to prove the truth not the perception of our families migrations and why. Often I tell fellow researchers to look at all possibilities even if it flies in the face of long standing family beliefs. As humans, we often feel embarrassment of our past or the past of family members and try desperately to change reality to a more interesting, less offensive or more acceptable perception in an attempt to elude or distort our history completely. I would recommend this book for its readability and content, however, I especially would recommend it to anyone studying history, genealogy or teaching how to research and write family histories. It is a fine example of why and how information in families become misleading or convoluted no matter how well intended. From time to time even in the “best” of families, deception happens. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Interesting work of non-fiction *by G***L on January 22, 2013* Ninety-nine years have passed since the beginning of WW1, or as it was called at the time, "The Great War". Nearly a century ago, war was sparked by the assassination in Sarajevo in June, 1914, of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Because of the tangled web of alliances, most of the nations in Europe went to war. In Great Britain and the imperial territories, hundreds of thousands of young men gaily joined up to fight for their king and country in a war that was supposed to last only a few months. Four long, dreadful years later, with the fields of France and Belgium turned into trench-laced killing fields, the war was over. An entire generation of young men and the cities and villages they had come from were starkly reminded of the toll the war had taken. British historian Catherine Bailey has written one of the finest books on WW1 that I've read. Her new book, "The Secret Rooms" is a rather melodramatically-titled book about the Manners family - the Dukes of Rutland - and their castle "Belvoir" (pronounced "Beaver"). Bailey had intended to write a book about the Belvoir estate and the affect the war had on its thousands of tenants. However, once she got to work, perusing the war records at the castle, she stumbled upon a more interesting, more personal story. And that's the story she tells in "The Secret Rooms". John Manners, the 9th Duke of Rutland, died in 1940 in a back part of his huge castle. He had sequestered himself in these rooms for a few months before his death at the age of 54, working frantically on his family's legacy. The British government had sent a huge number of boxes of archives to be protected from the German bombing of London, but it was not these records the Duke was interested in. He was interested in his own family's records and he tried to weed out letters and diaries that would obscure a smallish part of his own life and how it related to the lives of his parents and siblings. But what was Rutland trying to hide, and why was he trying to hide it? In her fascinating book, Bailey takes the reader though the last 30 years or so of the 19th century and into the first half of the 20th. By looking at these years through the mysteries of the Manners family, the reader is exposed to an amazing recap of both family and societal history. I think the sub-title of the book, "A True Gothic Mystery" might scare some potential readers away. Bailey's book is more - so much more - than a silly story. She truly tells the story of a time and a place and a family. It's a great read. If you're a WW1 buff, please put this on your list. ### ⭐⭐⭐ 2/3 of this book is intriguing...spoilers *by C***E on January 9, 2014* Before it runs into a boring brick well. All the build-up about missing letters for various periods in the life of the son of the Duke in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century is overblown to reveal a whole lot of nothing. The cause of death of the oldest son of the Duke at age nine was apparently "covered up"...an accident listed as illness. So what? Nothing came to light that the accident was anything sinister. The aristocrats always had their own rules and ways and people did as they were told. The author goes on and about the cruelty and savageness of the younger son, John, being sent away after this death, when sending boy children away at young ages was almost obligatory in the era. Yes, the timing was cruel, yes they resented his living over the favored child, but again, this was not so unusual in the period. It was freely acknowledged that families had "favorite" children at the time. Now, gasps of outrage and probably charges or removal would ensue. It is important to see things in relations to the times. The great big mystery as to why the remaining son John somehow managed to sit out any danger during WWII turns out to be a big yawn...Mama Duchess set out on a campaign to make sure of it. Wow what a shocker-not. Not much different that rich Americans protecting their darling bound-for-Harvard sons during Viet Nam. Why it should be shocking that a young aristocrat is able to avoid danger thanks to Mama? The author tries to make this revelation far more dramatic than it really is. I was expecting a hidden murder, a singular act of cowardice in battle, or a revelation of an improper relationship with his Uncle Charlie, at least. Also, the daughter, Diana Manners, is portrayed as a helpless victim of her scheming mother, when everything else I have read about her shows her well able to control and manipulate people all on her own, no help from Mama needed. The author makes use of italics every time she wants to stress something or make a point, which is annoying, as if the reader is too stupid to recognize important details without being told in this way to take note. This got tedious for me. Overall, though, it is well-written and suspenseful at least in the early portions. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/221579-the-secret-rooms-a-true-story-of-a-haunted-castle](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/221579-the-secret-rooms-a-true-story-of-a-haunted-castle) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-09-28*