In the years before the story begins, Cassandra Mortmain’s Father has rented an old, derelict but charming castle in which he hopes to find the inspiration to write a second book.
He has struggled with writer’s block after the success of his first novel.
Living in the house alongside Cassandra, is her younger brother, older sister, Stephen, the family’s late maid’s son, her widowed father and his second wife, Topaz, the family begins to struggle to maintain their wealth.
When the American Cotton family inherit a nearby plot and become the Mortmain’s new landlords, both Cassandra and her sister Rose become captivated by the unmarried Cotton brothers, Simon, and Neil.
In the context of a time where marriage may have seemed like the only choice for young women, especially for those from less privileged backgrounds, the sister’s immediate interest in the brothers is inevitable.
I Capture the Castle is set in the 1930s but was written during World War Two while author Dodie Smith was living in America. Smith wrote the book as a way of capturing her nostalgia for the happy times she had had back in England before the war.
This is a coming-of-age story with a comforting feel to it which is a type of book I really enjoy reading; I also like the sense of nostalgia which is portrayed in it.
I found this book to have a similar feel to Jane Austen’s novels which Dodie Smith also references in the book by Rose expressing a desire to exist in one of her Austen’s novels. Cassandra’s attitude towards society are similar to Lizzy Bennetts in pride and prejudice.
This type of Female Character who resists the expectations put on them by society is one that I am always drawn to.
I would recommend I capture the castle to people who like comforting reads, coming of age stories and strong female characters.
