I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The last one I read in the Penguin Originals series this month is this classic from Dodie Smith. There’s a theme developing here, but, in this book more than the others perhaps, it is the brilliance of the main character that gets you. 17 yr old Cassandra narrates her way through growing up in an old castle in Suffolk with her dysfunctional family – including sister, Rose, intent on marrying money to escape the poverty, and father struggling with his writing career. Through her own writing, Cassandra is making sense of the world, while showing us the interactions and relationships developing with the wealthy neighbours (heirs to the castle), the eligible bachelors. The title reflects Cassandra’s attempts to ‘capture’ the essence of things - her family, friends, her home. This sits high up in my list of favourite YA, for reasons I can’t quite pin down yet. A sweet story.