The Blue Castle
by L. M. Montgomery
The recap
Valancy Stirling is twenty-nine, unmarried and slowly suffocating in Deerwood, a small town in Ontario's Muskoka lake country, where her domineering mother and a chorus of disapproving relatives have long since filed her away as a dull old maid. Her only refuge is a private daydream of a shining blue castle where she is free and adored. Then a doctor's diagnosis suggests that her time may be short, and Valancy decides she will not waste another day being obedient. She starts saying exactly what she thinks, to the horror of the family, walks out of the house and finds herself drawn to Barney Snaith, the mysterious, disreputable outsider every gossip in town loves to condemn. L. M. Montgomery, best known for Anne of Green Gables, wrote this one for grown-ups, and it shows. The satire of family tyranny is sharp and very funny, the lake and forest scenes are pure enchantment, and Valancy's late, joyous rebellion still feels startlingly modern.
Why read it
For anyone who has ever felt overlooked by their own family, and for Anne of Green Gables fans who want Montgomery's wit and lyricism in the company of a grown woman finally claiming her own life.
Fun facts
- 01
It is one of the few novels L. M. Montgomery wrote for adults, and the only one of her books set entirely outside Prince Edward Island.
- 02
The fictional town of Deerwood is modelled on Bala, Ontario, in the Muskoka region, which Montgomery visited in 1922.
- 03
The novel became a successful Polish stage musical in 1982, and ten years later Canadian playwright Hank Stinson wrote The Blue Castle: A Musical Love Story.
- 04
Colleen McCullough's 1987 novel The Ladies of Missalonghi drew plagiarism accusations for its close resemblance to The Blue Castle; McCullough said she had read Montgomery's book as a child and that the similarities were unintentional.
