The Blue Castle: a novel

About the book

Valancy Stirling has spent years accommodating a family whose judgments leave little room for her own wishes. Private daydreams offer an imagined refuge, but a disturbing message from a doctor changes the urgency of the choices before her. Montgomery follows Valancy's experiments in speaking plainly, accepting unfamiliar company, and seeking experiences her relatives would dismiss. The resulting comedy draws on the family's certainty that departure from its rules must indicate something wrong. Beyond that social pressure, natural surroundings and practical acts of care give independence a more concrete meaning than simple rebellion. The romance develops through the gap between public reputation and personal encounter. At its centre is the question of how a person begins to live deliberately after making a habit of self-effacement.

• Independence
• Family expectations
• Renewal

Why read it

For the mixture of sharp family comedy and a heroine's gradual discovery of practical freedom.

English text