Book 90: I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

I was not expecting to enjoy this book but - once again - it turned out to be brilliant. I had been put off by watching a film version a few years ago; I didn't like some aspects of the plot and felt no particular reason to be drawn to the characters. This changes entirely when the story is viewed through the journal of the protagonist, seventeen-year-old Cassandra. The cover quote from J K Rowling reads "This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met", and I am certainly obliged to agree. Viewed through her eyes, the telling of the family's extreme (yet very cheerful) poverty and the near-despair of her Father ever writing again is transformed. When Scoatney, the home of the Mortmain family's landlords, is inherited by a young American, he and his brother come to England to live at the place. The intriguing story of the brothers' growing friendship with Cassandra and her sister Rose is interwoven with Cassandra's own relationships with Rose, her brother Thomas, stepmother Topaz and the enigmatic Stephen. A very compelling story, emotionally evocative, enjoyable, at times amusing and somehow true to life.