From Amazon.com
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
In a soft, intriguing voice, Emilia Fox matches her lovely British accent to this old-fashioned romance. First published in 1948, this story is a timeless tale of unrequited first love and sibling jealousy. It is full of elegance and lace juxtaposed with a life of poverty. Fox deftly portrays the two sisters who live in a run-down castle in an old-English countryside. The courting of the two sisters by two brothers leads to misunderstanding and confusion. Fox reads the story, which is the younger sister's journal, with flair, lending an air of grace and a mix of adolescent feelings that match the poignant text. D.L.M. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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