I Capture the Castle

by Dodie Smith
5 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: England
352 Pages
Published in 1948

Ellie's Review
This is a wonderful romantic, chicklit book that is a bit like a more modern Pride & Prejudice. I love it every time I read it!

Book SummaryI Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has "captured the castle"— and the heart of the reader— in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.

Author InformationDodie Smith's most famous book was 101 Dalmatians.
Book Club Questions

• How might readers have responded differently to the novel at the time it was first published? Why does the novel continue to appeal to readers today as it did in 1948?
• Why do you think Dodie Smith chose the form of the diary to tell the story of Cassandra and the Mortmain family?
• Beyond a few spare descriptions, Smith tells us little about Mortmain’s novel. What do you imagine Jacob Wrestling to be about?
• A voracious reader, Cassandra compares her situation to that of the Bennets in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. How would you compare the situation of the Mortmain sisters to that of the Bennet sisters?
• Why does Mortmain encourage Cassandra to be “brisk” with Stephen? What does this book have to say about class in mid-twentieth century England?
• What is the meaning of the book’s title?
• What does the book say about English preconceptions of Americans and America and vice versa?
• How does the book reflect society’s changing views toward women during the first half of the 20^th century? How do the women in this novel view the roles and opportunities open to them both in the family and in the world at large differently?
• Over the course of the novel, Cassandra comes to seem less a child “with a green little hand” and more a young woman. How is I Capture the Castle a story of Cassandra’s coming of age?
• The description of Rose on page 1 says she is “very bitter with life.” If Cassandra were to write another journal, do you think she would describe herself this way now?
• Page 11 reads, “I think it worthy of note that I never felt happier in my life—despite sorrow for father, pity for Rose, embarrassment about Stephen’s poetry and no justification for hope as regards our family’s general outlook.” How has Cassandra changed by the end of the book? Will she be able to feel happy and content again?