An Old Fashioned Novel for Your Reading Pleasure

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this Lucy Montgomery book. It is very old fashioned--if you don't like old fashioned stories and writing, this book may not be for you.

Valency has taken a back seat all her life. Her mantra is pretty much, don't make waves, do what you are told. She's living in fear of breaking the rules and speaking her mind. She won't even change her hairstyle as her family expects her to be obedient and never change. To top it off, she is considered an unattractive old maid.

That all changes when Valency finds out that she should not expect to live a long life. In fact, she ends up proposing to a eccentric and wild bachelor, Barney Snaith. Barney accepts her proposal out of the kindness of his heart (I know, this is a little unrealistic, but I forewarned you this is an old fashioned book).

Barney and Valency live on Barney's personal island. It turns out to be a pretty idyllic life, at least for Valency who loves nature, privacy and being able to do whatever she wants.

There is an author that Valency loves, who comforts who hurt soul throughout the book. His name is John Foster. Foster seems to be a John Muir type character to me, and many of the descriptive passages he writes are shared throughout the book. For example

It is a pity to gather wood flowers. They lose half their witchery away from the green and the flicker. The way to enjoy wood flowers is to track them down to their remote haunts--gloat over them--and then leave them with backward glances, taking with us only the beguiling memory of their grace and fragrance."

Montgomery is the author of the popular Anne of Green Gables series. As I understand it this is her only novel for adults. The Blue Castle was a nice break from modern literature which seems to be moving away from using words in the more gentle and educated way of the past.



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