The Blue Castle (1926)

by L. M. Montgomery

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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70
Persuasion by Jane Austen (allisongryski)
allisongryski: This is by no means an obvious recommendation. However, the quality of writing and something of the heroines' characters is similar. The heroines of these two books are both under-appreciated members of their families, who are thought beyond any chance of marriage. They are both forced by circumstance to find courage that they didn't know they possessed and they are rewarded with eventual happiness.… (more)
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The Young Clementina by D. E. Stevenson (emanate28)
emanate28: A bit of a fairy tale, it deals with a young woman who is resigned to being alone...but finds her life's not over yet!
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The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough (MDGentleReader)
MDGentleReader: Until I reread them both, I actually confused these two stories. I think that if you enjoy one, you'll enjoy the other.
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A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer (SockMonkeyGirl)
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The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (infiniteletters)
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Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson (wisemetis)
wisemetis: Main characters are both overlooked and underappreciated/taken for granted.
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Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson (humouress)
humouress: 'Blue Castle' and 'Journey to the River Sea' have the same sense of wonderment and discovery at exploring the wilderness around the protagonist in the company of someone else who has made an effort to live in harmony with nature.
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Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (SunnySD)
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moonsoar: Both heroes are charming rakes.

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▾Member reviews

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Showing 1-5 of 77 (next | show all)

Probably my favorite L.M. Montgomery book. It feels to me like a fairy tale for adults. (

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ang709 | Aug 26, 2018 |

A coming-of-age story that is a bit naive in this day and age but insightful for young adults reaching independence. Charmingly witten although dated. (

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SandyAMcPherson | Jul 22, 2018 |

Valancy Stirling has been emotionally abused all her life, she is worn down into a shadow of a human, dependant on others (as many women were at the time), dealing with her wants and needs being neglected, she escapes in the works of John Foster, who writes about nature. She sometimes escapes to an imaginary place that is a blue castle.

Her life changes when she hears that she has a deadly heart condition and now she only has a short time to live and she decides that she's not going to live her life as it was, she's going to live her life as she wants. This leads her on an adventure that will change her life forever.

I really enjoyed it, found it uplifting and hopeful. (

)

wyvernfriend | Jun 14, 2018 |

I still love Emily, but the hopelessly romantic, yet stubbornly practical Valancy Stirling is now close in the running for my most favorite L.M. Montgomery protagonist. The "twists" in this are predictable, but I adore the lush description and the sharp observation, the quirky characters, and the small-town charm of Montgomery's books and this was no exception. I enjoyed every bit of this sweet story and read almost perpetually with a smile on my face. (

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saresmoore | Mar 20, 2018 |

I'm sentimental about this book because I read it at a certain point in my life when things were very bleak and all I could think about was disappearing. Probably also for that reason, I can't bear to read anyone saying Bad Things about it. (

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subabat | Mar 19, 2018 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
L. M. Montgomery	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Salonen, A. J.	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Stahl, Ben F.	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Is contained in

The Complete Works of L. M. Montgomery (Delphi Classics Series Three) by Lucy Maud Montgomery

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▾Common Knowledge

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Series (with order)

Information from the Polish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Kolekcja z Zielonego Wzgórza (21)

Canonical title

The Blue Castle

Original title

Information from the Polish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

The Blue Castle

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1926

People/Characters

Valancy Stirling

Barney Snaith

Amelia Stirling (Mrs. Frederick Stirling)

Christine Stickles (Cousin Stickles)

Cecily Gay (Cissy)

(show all 15 items)

Important places

Mistawis, Ontario, Canada

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Deerwood, Ontario, Canada

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling's whole life would have been entirely different. She would have gone with the rest of her clan to Aunt wellington'd engagement picnic and Dr. Trent would have gone to Montreal. But it did rain and you shall hear what happened to her because of it.

Quotations

...fringed by aspens that were always quivering with some supernal joy.

Love! What a searing, torturing, intolerably sweet thing it was - the possession of body, soul and mind! With something at its core as fine and remote and purely spiritual as the tiny blue spark in the heart of an unbreakable diamond.

The new moons always looked down through it (the oriel window), the lower pine boughs swayed about the top of it, and all through the nights the soft, dim silver of the lake dreamed through it.

In a corner a nice, tall, lazy old clock ticked - the right kind of a clock. One that did not hurry the hours awaybut ticked them off deliberately. It was the jolliest looking old clock. A fat, corpulent clock with a great, round man's face painted on it, the hands stretching out of its nose and the hours encircling it like a halo.

...they ate out on the verandah that almost overhung the lake... Supper was the meal that Valency loved best. The faint laughter of winds was always about them and the colours of Mistawis, imperial and spiritual, under the changing clouds, were something that cannot be expressed in mere words. Shadows, too. Clustering in the pines until a wind shook them out and pursued them over Mistawis. They lay all day along the shores, threaded by ferns and wild blossoms. they stole around the headlands in the glow of the sunset, until twilight wove them all into one great web of dusk.

(show all 9 items)

Last words

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Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Publisher series

Voyageur Classics

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

▾References

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Wikipedia in English (1)

The Blue Castle

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

From the back cover: At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent -- and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

Available online at Project Gutenberg Australia:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200...

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0553280511, Mass Market Paperback)

At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent -- and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:10:15 -0400)

(see all 3 descriptions)

▾Library descriptions

Valancy Stirling, 29, lives with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt and worries that she will never find love and marriage. She finds the only consolation for her loneliness in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. But when a letter arrives from Dr. Trent she finally dares to do and say exactly what she wants to with surprising and wonderful results.… (more)

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