Hidden Places describes locations off the beaten path. The images appear as if they are oil paintings which I found refreshing. I wish however that this book had been in kindle format, easier for me. This ARC was provided to me free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. Overall, the book was very enjoyable.

This is an interesting little book that tells the stories of abandoned/hidden places around the world to visit. Many of the stories are depressing, like the opening one about an ancient English village whose residents were evicted during the war to set up a military base and never allowed to return or the Irish castle that burned with most of its small number of residents and workers inside. There is a decided preference for European places, which take up at least half of the book. A handful of African, North American, South American and other continents' hidden places are also provided.

Each place is described lyrically with a focus on history but also on story telling, in about 4 pages. There are beautiful illustrations of each place (generally about two paintings) but no photographs. This was a shame for me, as I really wanted to see photos of the places described.

I'm not sure if I'd really want to visit any of these places and some of them are impossible (underwater, buried in jungle, etc.). In the end, I just felt a little sad about most of them.

As an unrelated note, the author is listed as Sarah Baxter and when I clicked to see what books she had written, quite a few poorly rated porn collections were listed. Ms. Baxter is not a Goodreads author and I don't know if Goodreads just lumped all the books that had "Sarah Baxter" (a rather common name) listed as a contributor together, but it might be worth looking into if this is a different author.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

The chapters on the different locations were very interesting, but I didn't find that the artwork added much to the book. It was very rustic in the style of Grandma Moses, which I didn't think was appropriate for a travel book.

Beautifully drawn the author shares with us details of these remote hidden destinations.a book that’s a feast for the eyes the author writes brief essays on each of these hidden treasures,A book that would make a lovely gift a boook I will look at again& again.#netgalley#quartobooks

Beautifully written look at some unusual sites around the world. Brief, interesting historical information provided about each area. While the book has nice illustrations to accompany each locale, I can’t help but wish actual photos of the sites were included instead.