Much as I loved the story of two sisters growing up in a crumbling castle in abject poverty and the advent of two half-American brothers at the neighbouring estate which changes everything for them for ever, there are many highly romantic elements in this novel which lend proof to Smith’s own self-denigrating point. The book was a triumph and it went on to capture hearts – particularly female hearts – for the next seven decades.ĭodie Smith herself was always self-deprecating about her novel telling people (perhaps with a note of false modesty?) that it was merely Peg’s Paper* stuff. She was ‘tormented by the book’ and revisions went on for two years as she painstakingly rewrote every line. In my Vintage edition of ‘I Capture the Castle’ there is an introduction by the excellent Valerie Grove in which she tells of Dodie Smith writing this, her first novel, in California in 1945 in ‘a fever of nostalgia’ for England.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2023
Categories |