I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith was our August book club selection and what a precious find it was.
Written in the 1940s, I Capture the Castle tells the story of the Mortmain family, living in a dilapidated castle in the English countryside. The story is told through a series of journals by Cassandra Mortmain who relates the tale of her eccentric family.
Her father who was the famous author of a novel and is now suffering from writer's block; her sister Rose who flits about and becomes engaged to Simon Cotton the American who has inherited the estate that includes the castle; Topaz their bohemian stepmother who wants very much to be needed; ; handsome Stephen who has lived at the castle since he was a child and continues to do odd jobs around the place but who is desperately in love with Cassandra.
Cassandra herself is a sweet and witty 17 year old, though her writing and inexperience makes her feel younger as you read about life in the castle through her eyes.
This was a book I wanted to savor.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton
The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton were two books that had been recommended to me a few times.
I read The Forgotten Garden first and was instantly smitten. Four year old Nell is found alone on the docks after a voyage from England to Australia. She is taken in by the port master and his wife and grows up knowing little of where she came from or the adventure that brought her to the only life she knows.
Years later, she finds out that she is not the port master's daughter and begins a journey to make sense of the snippets of memories she has. Life gets in the way as Nell takes in her granddaughter who eventually takes up the search and learns of her grandmother's true identity and heritage. Morton does a wonderful job of jumping back and forth through time to tell the story and keep you enthralled.
The House at Riverton was Morton's first novel and while it was compelling and also contained a mystery, I didn't love it as much. It was more of an Upstairs Downstairs or Gosford Park story - with young Grace arriving at Riverton to be a maid at the house where her mother worked for years. Grace becomes enamored with the children who visit the house - David, Hannah and Emmeline - and becomes faithful to them as a maid and secret keeper until the end of her life when she is compelled into memories by the creation of a film about a fateful night at the estate.
I read The Forgotten Garden first and was instantly smitten. Four year old Nell is found alone on the docks after a voyage from England to Australia. She is taken in by the port master and his wife and grows up knowing little of where she came from or the adventure that brought her to the only life she knows.
Years later, she finds out that she is not the port master's daughter and begins a journey to make sense of the snippets of memories she has. Life gets in the way as Nell takes in her granddaughter who eventually takes up the search and learns of her grandmother's true identity and heritage. Morton does a wonderful job of jumping back and forth through time to tell the story and keep you enthralled.
The House at Riverton was Morton's first novel and while it was compelling and also contained a mystery, I didn't love it as much. It was more of an Upstairs Downstairs or Gosford Park story - with young Grace arriving at Riverton to be a maid at the house where her mother worked for years. Grace becomes enamored with the children who visit the house - David, Hannah and Emmeline - and becomes faithful to them as a maid and secret keeper until the end of her life when she is compelled into memories by the creation of a film about a fateful night at the estate.
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