A book I very much enjoyed reading was Dodie Smith’s ‘I Capture the Castle.’ The book is set in pre WW2 England (1930s) although there is no mention of the war in the novel. The story starts with the narrator who is the daughter, Cassandra, and who belongs to an impoverished but well educated and brought up family in the English countryside. Their mother has died before the start of the story and their father is a writer who is experiencing writer’s block. Cassandra also has an older sister and a younger brother as well as a step brother who the family has adopted. There is also a step mother who used to be a model for art paintings. They live in a very large house which they refer to as a castle throughout the book. They have the castle on a lease. It goes without saying they have two pets: a cat and a dog.

At the beginning of the novel there is constant complaining of their lack of money and poverty however this changes when two wealthy American bachelor brothers (including the heir to the castle) come to their village and Rose (the oldest daughter) and Cassandra set about orchestrating the match of Rose with Simon (the wealthier of the two American brothers). 

Of course much comedy ensues. Cassandra is repeatedly in awkward situations such as when she answers the door naked when the American characters are first introduced. At one point Rose runs away dressed in bearskins and risks getting stabbed by a pitchfork to avoid social embarrassment. Cassandra is the brains behind most of the matchmaking throughout the novel. Rose being the less intelligent (and more vain) but apparently more prettier sister.

The story also does a great job of selling the English countryside and quiet way of life. Cassandra and Neil go swimming in the moat in the moonlight at one point (and they encourage the rest of the party to join them) in order to allow Rose to get some time alone with Simon.

However one of the most beautiful parts of the novel is when Rose is married off and Cassandra is left alone. Its obvious Cassandra’s heart is in the country as opposed to the city. She is lonely without her sister (and close friend). The book details how she spends her time on her own with her father suddenly recovered from his procrastination and is busy. And Cassandra’s sister and step mother both off in London enjoying Simon’s family money. She celebrates the summer solstice by setting a fire in an ancestral stone place and dancing around it with a head garland of flowers.

Another brilliance of the novel is the comparison of English culture with American culture of the time. The Americans have a car and a gramophone. They take the family for a barbeque by the beach. Neil talks of his ranch back in California. There is no political slant in this novel. It’s simply an interaction between two different cultures.

In the end this is a deep and light book at the same time. Very skilfully written. Anyone who has spent time in the countryside would enjoy it as well as anyone who appreciates British humour.