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Here Be Dragons co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless - opens 13 July. Admission included with ticket to the Galleries

1001 Stories Collection

I Capture the Castle

1001 I Capture The Castle
Added on 06th August 2020

Author Dodie Smith
First published 1948
Publisher Little Brown, Boston, USA

Family Identity and fairness
1001

A classic coming of age story.

Story

Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Mortmain is an aspiring writer and lives with her eccentric, impoverished family in a crumbling castle in the middle of nowhere. However, when a wealthy American family and their two handsome, unmarried sons inherit a nearby property, Cassie suddenly has a lot more to write about…

Why we chose it

A classic coming of age story with one of the most charismatic narrators.

Where it came from

I Capture the Castle is the first novel by English novelist and playwright Dodie Smith (1896-1990). Smith wrote the book in an attempt to cure her homesickness for the English countryside while living in the US with her husband during World War II. The story is strongly influenced by Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte’s romantic novels, and both authors are mentioned in the story.

Where it went next

The novel was an immediate success and is still widely read today. It has inspired numerous authors. The story was produced as a play in 1954 and a film in 2004.

Associated stories

The novel is often described as a contemporary version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813). Other stories by Dodie Smith include The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956) and The Town in Bloom (1965).

Added on 06th August 2020

Author Dodie Smith
First published 1948
Publisher Little Brown, Boston, USA

Family Identity and fairness
1001