Currently Reading: "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith

For the last few months I honestly thought that I had somehow thrown my copy of I Capture the Castle out or lent it to a friend without remembering. It wasn't until I was having a decent forage through my book shelves that I found it tucked away at the back. Such a relief; I've been trying to read it for at least six months.

At this moment in time I'm about a third of the way through the book and I am loving it. It really has everything that I look for in a quick read - simple language and people having romantic problems in a historic setting. For those of you who are unfamiliar Smith's novel is narrated by 17 year-old Cassandra and follows the life of her family who are broke and living in a decrepit castle in the 1930s.

One of the things that has stuck out to me so far is the way that the novel deals with class (a huge deal in a lot of English literature). Although the Mortmain family have absolutely no income or money they are still considered to be of a higher class than the working-class people (like their board Stephen) around them. The sisters are still expected to make a good match and go to dinner parties when the handsome Cotton boys move in next door but invitations are not extended to everyone and Stephen is not invited (though the rest of the household is). Despite the fact that he is the only one bringing money into the household he is considered below everyone else. Smith does a fantastic job demonstrating the complete lack of social mobility at the time (though this could also be due to the old-fashioned leanings of the families who seem to exist without any meaningful contact with the outside world).

I can't say too much about plot so far but as far as the characters go I am really enjoying reading about them. They all (apart from Mrs. Fox-Cotton) are rendered with compassion and I don't really dislike any of the characters despite their haughtiness and other less than positive attributes. This, I think, has to do with how likable the narrator Cassandra is and how kindly she treats everyone around her. Although this can sometimes come across too saccharine (or consciously naive ;-)) because Cassandra is constantly questioning her own motivations, emotions, wants and desires I find myself forgiving her. As a character, comes across as incredibly young and sheltered which tempers some of the sweetness.

Have you read I Capture the Castle? What did you think? Feel free to let me know!

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Lots of Love,
xo

*This post was not sponsored. Image above is not mine, sourced from here.