The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery
This is a sweet delightful
little story written by the author of Anne of Green Gables. It has all the elements of a fairy tale. Valency, a 29 year old spinster is sick of
the life she is living with her controlling mother and cousin along with abuse meted out by a
large group of her extended family who judge her harshly and treat her like a
child. The only thing that has kept her
going is a fantasy that she imagines about a life she lives in a Blue
Castle. She secretly sees a doctor about pains she is
having in her chest and he diagnoses her as having a terminal heart condition
and tells her that she will probably die within the year. She decides that whatever life she has left is
going to change. She begins to speak her
mind, wear what she wants, control her own space and eventually leaves home
when the opportunity arises to work caring for a sick woman. Her entire family think she has lost her
mind and tries everything in their power to continue to control her behavior
through whatever means they can think of, but when she finally leaves they have
lost all ability and Valency’s personality flowers into a very interesting character,
and it is joyfully fun to watch. I don’t
want to give away any more of the delightful story. Montgomery’s writing is witty, sensitive and
her descriptions of the Canadian woods are magical.
