First, to get it out of the way… Andi heard my plaintive cries (ha!), and put up the September issue of Estella. Go read: we’ve managed to bag an interview with The Book Thief‘s author, Marcus Zusak (take that, Stephenie Meyer!), who sounds like one fine fellow. Eventually I will get around to reading his book. 🙂 I contributed a book tour of Salt Lake City (figured I could squeeze that in while on vacation), and a review of a couple of Jane Austen “sequels”. Coupled with seeing Becoming Jane, which I quite liked, I spent a lot of time in Austen-land last month. Like always, Andi and Heather (who’s less than a week away from giving birth!) put together a fabulous issue.
After finishing Eclipse, I swore off romances, and instead (after a brief adventure with Hugo Cabret) started to read The Outermost House, by Henry Beston for the Armchair Traveler challenge. I didn’t give up on that; I just discovered (after falling asleep a few times), that it’s not the sort of book I can pick up and devour in one sitting. It’s more Wendell Berry-eqsue, something to be taken slowly, bit by bit. And so, I’m reading it a section at a time, one per day. At this rate, I’ll have it done sometime next week. I needed something else to read, though. Something I could get in to, and enjoy. And I found that in L.M. Montgomery’s very charming book, The Blue Castle.
Valancy Sterling is an old maid (it’s the 1920s, people), living with her mother and a widowed cousin, is part of a stuffy old-money clan in Deerwood, Ontario. She is mousy, fearful, and adores the “forbidden” nature books of John Foster. She comforts herself with dreams of heroes and beautiful things in her Blue Castle. On the morning of her 29th birthday, she realizes (yet again) that she’s never even had a life, let alone had someone to love or who loves her. And she realizes that this is something she really wants. She goes to the doctor, who diagnoses her with a fatal heart disease and gives her a year to live. It’s when faced with death that Valancy realizes that she needs to live, and breaking all conventions, she sets out to find it.
I was thoroughly charmed by this book. Valancy is a cross between Anne Wentworth and Anne Shirley: like Anne Wentworth, she’s so nice, she’s so long-suffering that you just ache for her to have something of her own. And when she does finally break out of her shell, you discover the same sort of passion for life and imagination that Anne Shirley has. Montgomery wonderfully portrayed a woman coming into her own, learning to love, being loved in return, and enjoying herself thoroughly in the process. And Valancy’s relatives: oh, they were fabulously awful. I hated them all, the entire book. They were base, they were mean, they were snobs (Valancy accuses them, correctly, of being part of a snobocracy. I loved that.), and they deserved to have Valancy speak her mind to them. One of my favorite scenes was Valancy’s cousin retelling the events of Valancy’s departure:
“The last words I said to her,” said Cousin Stickles pathetically, “were, ‘Who will rub my back at nights now?’ And she said — she said — but no, I cannot repeat it.”
“Nonsense,” said Uncle Benjamin. “Out with it. This is no time to be squeamish.”
“She said” — Cousin Stickles’ voice was little more than a whisper– “she said–‘Oh, darn!'”
“To think I should have lived to hear my daughter swearing!” sobbed Mrs. Frederick.
I howled.
It is a good romance, after all. Even if the ending gets a bit predictable (I bet you could guess the ending right now), and everything turns out quite pat. I didn’t want it any other way. And it still makes me smile just to think about it.
The Book Nut 
I’ve never read ANYTHING by L.M. Montgomery. Oh, wait, yes I did. I finally got around to Anne of Green Gables just a few years ago. Still scandalous that I waited that long.Must read more of her stuff!Great book tour, by the way! I loooove the pics.
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I love L.M. Montgomery, and this is a good book. One I haven’t picked up in quite a while 🙂 Have you read A Tangled Web? It is my favorite standalone title by Montgomery.
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You know, I read this one awhile ago and enjoyed it a lot. But the person who sold me the book (from a book listserv I used to belong to, back before blogs) mentioned that she thought that Montgomery stolen the basic plot the idea from “The Ladies of Missalonghi, by Colleen McCullough. The plots *are* remarkable similar. And I didn’t think much more about it til now…However it turns out that my informer was a little confused as the McCullough novel was published in 1987! Accd. to one blog post I read, it may have been unintentional on the part of McCullough as many of the plot devices are “standard” ones for romances. Interesting, anyway!Andi- you do need to read more LM Montgomery- I do adore her. I read some of her letters too, which were great! Having proclaimed my love for her, I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I don’t think I’ve read A Tangled Web. Off to the library website to order it! 🙂
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turtlebella has it right, Andi — you must read more Montgomery. (I wonder if she’s more widely read in Canada than down here…) And no, Becky, I haven’t read A Tangled Web. I’ll put in on my TBR list… and someday I’ll even probably get to it.turtlebella — that’s interesting about the similarities. Makes you wonder, as per Julie (Bookworm’s) rants, how much “borrowing” really goes on in the publishing world.
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I loved The Blue Castle. By far my favorite L.M. Montgomery (and I believe I’ve read – and own – just about everything she’s written). Your post reminds me that I want to reread it on my (upcoming) 29th birthday.
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I’ve REALLY got to add this one to my list!
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Heh Melissa, this is Heather C from the Nook. I’ve been lurking on your blog for awhile now, and I just had to come out of the woodwork on this one. I agree with Heather P.–this is my favorite L. M. Montgomery. Yes, it’s predictable and all that, but it bears the hallmarks of an experienced writer. I love to hate her family, and Barney Snaith is one of my all-time favorite Prince Charmings. 🙂
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Hi Heather! It’s good to see you over here! I completely agree with you; while it is a bit predictable at the end, it’s a wonderful story getting there, and Barney Snaith (whom I guess I didn’t mention in my post), is a wonderful romantic “lead”. I think that’s what I liked best (next to Valancy coming out of her shell): their romance. It’s completely wonderful. And after Eclipse, I needed something like that.
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This has been on my TBR list forever! Probably since I read all the Anne of Green Gables books as a kid. I really must get around to it!
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Turtlebella, I will most certainly begin tracking down yummy Montgomery books. And I love letters, so those sound promising too!
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Great post! I was giggling at the ‘swearing’ excerpt you included!
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This sounds fun, and I actually had no idea Montgomery had written anything but the AoGG series.
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I need to reread this one. I enjoyed it the first time, but I don’t thin I fully appreciated it.Melissa, you write such great reviews. Do you have an English background?
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Thank you, booklogged. No, I don’t have an English background; I’m journalism (the English bastard child). I’m constantly put to shame by former English majors who actually read things into books that I don’t see. 🙂
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