Other editions of book I Capture the Castle

"I write this sitting at the kitchen sink" is the first line of a novel about love, sibling rivalry, and a bohemian existence in a crumbling castle in the middle of nowhere. Cassandra Mortmin's journal records her fadingly glamorous stepmother, her beautiful, wistful older sister, and the man to whom they owe both their isolation and poverty: Father. The author of one experimental novel, and a minor cause celebre, he has since suffered from writer's block and is determined to drag his family down with him. But if the iron has entered Father's soul, it hasn't penetrated Cassandra's.

A beautiful hardcover cloth bound gift edition deserving of a place in every home.Set in the idyllic English countryside of the 1940's, this is the diary of Cassandra Mortmain which tells of her extraordinary family and their life in a ramshackle castle. First, there is her eccentric father. Then there is her beautiful sister, Rose; vain, bored and desperate to marry and escape from her crumbling family home. Their stepmother Topaz, an artist's model and nudist, with a flair for wondering the castle grounds uninhibited by the constraints of modern clothing. Finally, there is Stephen, dazzlingly handsome and hopelessly in love with Cassandra.But all their lives are soon transformed by the arrival of new, wealthy neighbours from America and Cassandra finds herself falling in love.

"This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met." —J K Rowling This enchanting novel tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her unusual family who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Cassandra’ s eccentric father is a writer whose first book took the literary world by storm but he has since failed to write a single word and now spends his time reading detective fiction. Cassandra’s sister, Rose, despairs of her family’s circumstances and determines to marry their affluent American landlord. She is helped and, sometimes, hindered in this by their bohemian stepmother, an artists’ model who likes to commune with nature. Finally there is Stephen who is hopelessly in love with Cassandra. Amid this maelstrom Cassandra hones her writing skills, candidly capturing the events that take place within the castle’s walls, and her own first descent into love.

A love story set in early 1900s England that follows Cassandra Mortmain and her eccentric family. It speaks about struggling to survive in a decaying English castle. This book brought to awareness the problem that many "titled" families had (an still have) in England with paying for the upkeep of their castles ... making them cash poor but land rich. It is a beautiful story for the romantic in all of us.

The appeal of the book is that of a time of innocence . . . When a girl of 17 could still be all but untouched by sexuality. At the same time it captures the pangs of growing up and unrequited first love. (Observer)"A book for everyone who is young, poor, fed up and yearning for something exciting to happen" (Irish Times)"This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met" (J. K. Rowling) Cassandra Mortmain is no ordinary teenager. She belongs to an extraordinary family including a father suffering from writer's block and a lute-playing stepmother, Topaz, who communes with nature near the wild, tumble-down castle that is their home. Cassandra's diary reveals how their lives are changed forever two American brothers arrive to lay claim, not only to their home, but also their hearts.