I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

So the last book I read was I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (of The Hundred and One Dalmatians fame). I had bought it on a whim because I heard it mentioned on another message board and then saw it at the bookstore and thought, why not?

The heroine is seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain who lives in a castle with her father, stepmother Topaz, older sister Rose, younger brother Thomas, and Stephen, the good-looking son of their late housekeeper who is completely devoted to Cassandra. The family is living in complete poverty because the father, who was once a writer, now spends all his time reading detective novels, and though Topaz could make some money modeling in London, the cost of living in the city would consume most of her earnings anyway.

Their landlord dies, so enter his American heir Simon, along with his younger brother Neil and their mother. As soon as the two families meet, Rose views Simon as a marriage prospect that could bring her and her family out of the poverty into which they have fallen, and so begins the main thrust of the story.

All the events are recorded by Cassandra in her diary, and so it is her point of view that the reader sees throughout.

One thing I really disliked about the narrative was that at the beginning of every section, Cassandra would write something like “something really exciting happened, but I can’t rush into it so I’m going to write pages of boring stuff before I actually tell you what it is.” Alright, the other stuff wasn’t boring per se, but I think announcing that something interesting would soon occur made me more eager to just get to it instead of wading through the whole buildup first. After a while this just got really frustrating.

Secondly, I won’t really go in depth into this, but let’s just say that my romance reading sensibilities were slightly disappointed *sigh*

Otherwise this was a pretty good read – Cassandra had a great voice which was convincing, if a little mature for a girl who is only 17. The father, Topaz, and Rose were also really well done.



In 2003, the book was made into a film, which I might think about watching when I return to school.

I Capture the Castle