Books - I Capture the Castle

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I Capture the Castle

by: Dodie Smith

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Binding: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: April 30, 1999
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin

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Editorial Review:
Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain wants to become a writer. Trouble is, she's the daughter of a once-famous author with a severe case of writer's block. Her family--beautiful sister Rose, brooding father James, ethereal stepmother Topaz--is barely scraping by in a crumbling English castle they leased when times were good. Now there's very little furniture, hardly any food, and just a few pages of notebook paper left to write on. Bravely making the best of things, Cassandra gets hold of a journal and begins her literary apprenticeship by refusing to face the facts. She writes, "I have just remarked to Rose that our situation is really rather romantic, two girls in this strange and lonely house. She replied that she saw nothing romantic about being shut up in a crumbling ruin surrounded by a sea of mud."
Rose longs for suitors and new tea dresses while Cassandra scorns romance: "I know all about the facts of life. And I don't think much of them." But romantic isolation comes to an end both for the family and for Cassandra's heart when the wealthy, adventurous Cotton family takes over the nearby estate. Cassandra is a witty, pensive, observant heroine, just the right voice for chronicling the perilous cusp of adulthood. Some people have compared I Capture the Castle to the novels of Jane Austen, and it's just as well-plotted and witty. But the Mortmains are more bohemian--as much like the Addams Family as like any of Austen's characters. Dodie Smith, author of 101 Dalmations, wrote this novel in 1948. And though the story is set in the 1930s, it still feels fresh, and well deserves its reputation as a modern classic. --Maria Dolan
During six turbulent years in 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least of which is that Cassandra is deeply, hopelessly, in love. Illustrations .

Customer Reviews

Average Rating:

Rating:

- My all time favorite book
I first read this book when I was 17 (the same age as the main character). My mother gave me this book when I had nothing to read and I fell in love with it from the first sentence.
It is beautifully written and highly relateable to any young woman and possibly to those who remember what it was like to be at that age. While it follows Cassandra and her family we see their lives turn upside down and back right again as they struggle to make ends meet, find love, and discover the meaning ... Read More

Rating:

- A wonderful story
I just loved I Capture The Castle. What a charming book!

Set in the 1930s in a rural English town, the novel tells the story of Cassandra Mortmain, a seventeen year old girl living with her family in a run-down castle. Cassandra's family is highly eccentric. Her father is a tortured writer, her stepmother a free spirit and great beauty and her sister Rose is her imaginative best friend and confidante. The story revolves around the love triangle that ensues when two wealthy American brothers ... Read More

Rating:

- Nicely done
This a very appealing book for teens. A young girl who find herself in a castle, with sister, brother, father and step mother. All of them have very different personalities. The oldest girl keeps a diary of everything, because she want to be a writer better than her father. All while looking for love, specially the love of a well to do man.

Anna del C.
Author of "The Elf and the Princess"
and "Trouble in the Elf City"
The Elf and The Princess: The Silent Warrior Trilogy - Book ... Read More

Rating:

- One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE Novels!!!
This is a literary gem that should, at the very least, be read by everyone who has a love for historical novels. It is a fantastic/appropriate read for both teens and adults, and I recommend it so much that I have had to buy several copies over the years - unsure of who has my last one when I find myself recommending it to yet another friend.

I'm ordering two more copies today.

The main character, Cassandra, is my favorite narrator of all time. She is witty, yet not overdone, and tells ... Read More

Rating:

- I loved it!!
The setting of the book is wonderfull I was quickly absorbed in the story a MUST buy.

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