Kat with a K

Review: I Capture the Castle

I finished this one in January, but never quite managed to write up a review.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Genre: Literary fiction
Rating: 4.8

I love love love loved this book. I'd owned it for years, but for some reason never read it, although I had seen the movie. (It was okay.) I'm glad I finally read it. It's an enchanting story, about a family living in less-than-genteel poverty in a castle in England. They're all pretty eccentric, but lovable, most of the time. The story is in the form of the diary of Cassandra, the younger teenaged daughter. Early in the novel, the American heirs to the estate arrive, Cassandra's older sister sets her cap at one of them, and hilarity ensues. Or, at least, hilarity for the reader; it's the perfect mix of hilarity and heartbreak for the characters. The ending is hopeful but not unrealistically ideal. If you like Austen or Alcott or Montgomery, give this one a try.