"There is only one page left to write on. I will fill it with words of only one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love."
I Capture The Castle was on BBC 2 this evening. Was there ever a more shambolically decadent film? I just love it, not only because of its gentle coming of age storyline, but because in all its shabby glory, the film is a feast for the eyes. The pea green lacy laundry! The tin bath! Rose’s powder pink dresses, and Topaz’s robes!
Dodie Smith more famously wrote The Hundred and One Dalmations, but it was with I Capture the Castle, her first novel, originally inspired by her homesickness for England (and of the eccentricity of the English there can be no better study) that Dodie first came to the world attention. Opening with the lines " I write this sitting in the kitchen sink", the book is a love story set in 1930s England following 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, and the fortunes of her eccentric family, struggling to survive in a decaying English castle. Both funny and whimsical, it is a total delight and to my mind the film does not fail to do the book justice.
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
Oh purlease let it arrive in time for me to share a Sunday morning Brocante breakfast of flaky buttery croissants with a writer I adore… Erm in November, because it seems I have actually pre-ordered this book and it’s gonna be a…
Tell me now: is it too late to be adding last minute scrumptiousness to your favorite peoples stocking? Could Laura Long get a vintage button tea cosy delivered to me in time for Christmas? I want one for my snuggly post childrens…
My gorgeous Mum and Dad. My sister Helen, Barbie and me… The Sisters… The men in black and their little white Princess … And so it came to pass that three generations of our family set sail from our respective parts of…
Thank-you’s. As many of them as I am capable of offering. For little boys that talk too much and little boys who love football too much. For the geranium oil I have sprinkled into sesame oil so I could rub a medicinal…
Yes I know. It was unsanitary and unnecessary and lots of other "un" words you probably care to mention, but I liked it and now I’m sad. The bathroom looks bare, I’ve got cold toes and it the whole matter is going…
And now Ladies and Gentlemen, for your entertainment, that darling diva of all that is domestic… Brini Maxwell, the Vidcast… Go blow her a kiss and finally learn the secret of living graciously… Other Things To Do At BrocanteHome Browse the Bookstore…
2 Comments
I love this book! Have read it so many times…and the film "was" good but you're right….doesn't do the book justice.
I read this book afew years ago and fell in love with it, then the film got released and I was over joyed. I have it on dvd, but havnt watched it in a while, but now I feel the urge to capture the castle.
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I love this book! Have read it so many times…and the film "was" good but you're right….doesn't do the book justice.
I read this book afew years ago and fell in love with it, then the film got released and I was over joyed. I have it on dvd, but havnt watched it in a while, but now I feel the urge to capture the castle.