What a sweet, lovely book. It was comfortably old-fashioned. I wish I’d read it when I was the age of the narrator, as I’m sure I could have identified. Worth reading!

Rating: 4*/5

Loved it.

I Capture the Castle is made up of a series of three journals written by 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, who lives with her family in a dilapidated castle. Her father wrote one innovative, groundbreaking novel many years ago, but hasn’t written anything since. The family has little income, and Cassandra’s older sister is determined to marry rich. When the Mortmain’s castle is inherited by a rich young American…well, you can see where this might go.

I like the way the book maintains the immediacy of a journal, and yet allows some narrative distance by having Cassandra narrate events a few days or weeks after the events occur. What I don’t like about journal narratives is that the narrator has little room to reflect on events with any real perspective, but this book managed that quite well. Cassandra is an amazing, insightful narrator, and this is an amazing book.

The movie’s a pretty good adaptation, too.

I really loved this book – it ensnared me. The narrator is kind of naive and kooky, but very likeable. Now I don’t know whether I want to see the movie, because it might wreck it.

Classic.