Friday, February 25, 2005
I capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Woohoo! I Capture the Castle was on the sale table at the Indie bookstore for $4.99! An excellent book for a bargain price. Dodie Smith also wrote 101 Dalmations and Starlight Barking. I Capture the Castle is not a dog book, it is the story told through a journal of a young girl finding her way through personal relationships after high school.
Cassandra Mortmain is the child of a famous author. Her father wrote a magnificent book to much acclaim and since then has produced nothing. The family Cassandra, her father, her artist model stepmother, her older sister, younger brother, and Stephen a family friend/servant/family member live in an old and neglected castle. They live on minor income from the stepmothers occassional modeling, Stephens wages from his work on a nearby farm, and yearly gifts of food from the mansion family who owns the castle. The Lord of the manor has died and his American relatives have inherited the land including the castle. The Americans arrive and stir things up. Casssandra deals with her embarrassment at the way her family lives, her hopes and fears that a marriage between her sister and an American man might save the family from poverty, and worries that her father is going insane.
Things do not all work out cheerfully in this lovely book. I Capture the Castle was first published in 1948 but the most dating references in it are to bear furs and the prices of books, clothes, and food. The look into love, family, and friendship is true to 2005.
This book might be a hard sell but I think readers will enjoy it. A selling point is that the copy I bought had a recommendation by J.K. Rowling calling Cassandra "one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met".
Cassandra Mortmain is the child of a famous author. Her father wrote a magnificent book to much acclaim and since then has produced nothing. The family Cassandra, her father, her artist model stepmother, her older sister, younger brother, and Stephen a family friend/servant/family member live in an old and neglected castle. They live on minor income from the stepmothers occassional modeling, Stephens wages from his work on a nearby farm, and yearly gifts of food from the mansion family who owns the castle. The Lord of the manor has died and his American relatives have inherited the land including the castle. The Americans arrive and stir things up. Casssandra deals with her embarrassment at the way her family lives, her hopes and fears that a marriage between her sister and an American man might save the family from poverty, and worries that her father is going insane.
Things do not all work out cheerfully in this lovely book. I Capture the Castle was first published in 1948 but the most dating references in it are to bear furs and the prices of books, clothes, and food. The look into love, family, and friendship is true to 2005.
This book might be a hard sell but I think readers will enjoy it. A selling point is that the copy I bought had a recommendation by J.K. Rowling calling Cassandra "one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met".
# posted by JJ @ 2:31 PM 
