I Capture the Castle

Re-read in non-chronological chunks in May 2013 directly after finishing The Enchanted April.

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I am probably too old for this but I still loved it! It is a classic, so it must be a sign of my youth-at-heart that I enjoyed it so much. But is it sweet or pathetic that I couldn't predict how it would end? (Although I rarely attempt to predict any book's ending, unless I really hate it.) I was thankful that Cassandra managed to avoid the same happily-ever-after as Rose, at least for now. The setting is one of my favourites – England between the wars – and the cast of characters was nearly a perfect set – not too many, not too few. The journal-writing conceit weakens partway through when she recounts long scenes that may as well be in a novel, but by that point it hardly matters, and Cassandra pulls her diaristic self together around the time her emotional self falls apart.

P.S. I watched the 2003 film afterward and sadly it was no good.