The Blue Castle
by L. M. Montgomery
On This Page
Description
Valancy Stirling is twenty-nine years old. She has never been married, nor has she ever been in love. She lives with her quite judgmental mother and aunt, who constantly harp on her to get on with her life. An old maid by current societal standards, Valancy seeks reprieve from her current state in the form of reading books that take her to the Blue Castle, a place where all of her dreams and wishes come true. When her life takes a turn for the worse, she comes to terms with the person she show more wants to be and rebels against her family to fight for her own version of the Blue Castle. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
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.
90
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!
40
MDGentleReader Until I reread them both, I actually confused these two stories. I think that if you enjoy one, you'll enjoy the other.
20
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.
wisemetis Main characters are both overlooked and underappreciated/taken for granted.
moonsoar Both heroes are charming rakes.
Member Reviews
I haven't had a new all time fav book in a while, but behold The Blue Castle! It has earned its place in glory in my heart of hearts, never more to be forgotten or dismissed! It's so good from beginning to end and at every turn in between. It does have a depressing beginning, but do not be frightened, it is only farce! By which I mean it's just the set up to make the pay off all the more satisfying.
The protagonist, Valancy Stirling, is treated like absolute garbage by her mother and the rest of her extended family. But after getting some bad news from the doctor, Valancy decides to stop taking guff from anybody. She starts saying and doing whatever she feels like to the shock and horror of her highly respectable family. The hilarity show more and catharsis that follows is wonderful.
Valancy then goes off to make friends with the local reprobates, among whom is the outrageously named Barney Snaith, for whom she develops feelings deeper than those of ordinary friendship. Even though the book was published in 1926, many of the romantic beats could fit in a modern romcom with no questions asked.
This book is a delight to the senses. The late L.M. Montgum has rung the bell and is entitled to cigar or coconut, according to choice! Of this book I say unto you all: Read it! Memorize it! Love it! show less
The protagonist, Valancy Stirling, is treated like absolute garbage by her mother and the rest of her extended family. But after getting some bad news from the doctor, Valancy decides to stop taking guff from anybody. She starts saying and doing whatever she feels like to the shock and horror of her highly respectable family. The hilarity show more and catharsis that follows is wonderful.
Valancy then goes off to make friends with the local reprobates, among whom is the outrageously named Barney Snaith, for whom she develops feelings deeper than those of ordinary friendship. Even though the book was published in 1926, many of the romantic beats could fit in a modern romcom with no questions asked.
This book is a delight to the senses. The late L.M. Montgum has rung the bell and is entitled to cigar or coconut, according to choice! Of this book I say unto you all: Read it! Memorize it! Love it! show less
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde
That is one of my favorite quotes and it explains this story perfectly. Valancy Jane Stirling is only 29, but she’s been relegated to the role of old spinster in her family. She has, as Wilde said, been existing, but not living. It’s not until she receives some startling news that she decides to change her lot in life.
It’s so satisfying when she finally starts standing up for herself, but it’s so sad that it takes such a dramatic twist to get her to break out of her shell. The book is really about having the courage to live the life you want. Valancy and Barney Snaith are both good characters. They both have to learn to trust someone show more else with their happiness, a difficult thing for anyone to do.
This is the first Montgomery book I’ve read outside of the Anne of Green Gables series. While I will say I love those books more, I still loved her writing style in this one. I had longer to get attached to the characters on Prince Edward Island than I did to those in this book.
BOTTOM LINE: The story is predictable but sweet. It’s the equivalent of a really good romantic comedy movie. So save it for when you’re in the mood for a charming tale.
"You made me believe again in the reality of friendship and love."
"Fear is the original sin. Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something."
“She, who had been afraid of almost everything in life, was not afraid of death.”
“People who don’t like cats always seem to think that there is some peculiar virtue in not liking them.” show less
That is one of my favorite quotes and it explains this story perfectly. Valancy Jane Stirling is only 29, but she’s been relegated to the role of old spinster in her family. She has, as Wilde said, been existing, but not living. It’s not until she receives some startling news that she decides to change her lot in life.
It’s so satisfying when she finally starts standing up for herself, but it’s so sad that it takes such a dramatic twist to get her to break out of her shell. The book is really about having the courage to live the life you want. Valancy and Barney Snaith are both good characters. They both have to learn to trust someone show more else with their happiness, a difficult thing for anyone to do.
This is the first Montgomery book I’ve read outside of the Anne of Green Gables series. While I will say I love those books more, I still loved her writing style in this one. I had longer to get attached to the characters on Prince Edward Island than I did to those in this book.
BOTTOM LINE: The story is predictable but sweet. It’s the equivalent of a really good romantic comedy movie. So save it for when you’re in the mood for a charming tale.
"You made me believe again in the reality of friendship and love."
"Fear is the original sin. Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something."
“She, who had been afraid of almost everything in life, was not afraid of death.”
“People who don’t like cats always seem to think that there is some peculiar virtue in not liking them.” show less
Valancy Stirling wakes up on her 29th birthday and takes stock of her life. Her mother is an incessant nag, all moral rectitude and disapproval, and her whole extended family spends its time gossiping, putting on airs, and treating Valancy like a little girl instead of a grown woman. She’s afraid to stand up for herself in reality, preferring to retreat into a fantasy world involving a blue castle, where she lives as she pleases. But then she learns she has a serious heart condition and may not live more than a year. With the prospect of death hanging over her, what reason is there to fear anything else? Valancy burns brightly as she casts off her fears and starts living for herself for a change.
This was a glorious book. I devoured it show more in an afternoon. I LOVED seeing Valancy tell her relatives exactly what she thought of them (I’m not sure Montgomery would have expected a reader reaction of “In your FACE, b*tches!”, but that is what I ended up blurting out as I read the silver wedding anniversary scene). And the rest of her story is delightfully romantic and sentimental in the best possible way. If you haven’t read this but have enjoyed other Montgomery works, you need to read this. And then go visit Bala, Ontario, the model for the town of Deerwood in the story. show less
This was a glorious book. I devoured it show more in an afternoon. I LOVED seeing Valancy tell her relatives exactly what she thought of them (I’m not sure Montgomery would have expected a reader reaction of “In your FACE, b*tches!”, but that is what I ended up blurting out as I read the silver wedding anniversary scene). And the rest of her story is delightfully romantic and sentimental in the best possible way. If you haven’t read this but have enjoyed other Montgomery works, you need to read this. And then go visit Bala, Ontario, the model for the town of Deerwood in the story. show less
Not only is The Blue Castle a new all time favorite book, this one actually made it's way into my top 20 books of all time! This was one of only a handful of L.M. Montgomery books I didn't devour as a teen, and boy do I regret passing this one over. It's a delight from start to finish! Montgomery published this in 1926, and she was WAY ahead of her time with the themes and messages in this book. I loved how unexpectedly subversive it is.
The Blue Castle has everything you could possibly want in a book! It's got Valancy Stirling, an oppressed heroine who learns to stick up for herself, moving her life (and the plot) forward by making her own decisions. It's got a gaggle of odious relatives you will love to hate. It's got witty, cutting show more dialogue that had me laughing out loud. It's got lush, descriptive nature passages that gradually intensify as Valancy's happiness increases throughout the book. It's got several twisty plot developments that I did not even remotely see coming ahead of time. And it's got an absolute banger of a counterpart to Valancy in Barney Snaith, a man with an atrocious name who turns out to be one of the best dudes in all of romantic literature. show less
The Blue Castle has everything you could possibly want in a book! It's got Valancy Stirling, an oppressed heroine who learns to stick up for herself, moving her life (and the plot) forward by making her own decisions. It's got a gaggle of odious relatives you will love to hate. It's got witty, cutting show more dialogue that had me laughing out loud. It's got lush, descriptive nature passages that gradually intensify as Valancy's happiness increases throughout the book. It's got several twisty plot developments that I did not even remotely see coming ahead of time. And it's got an absolute banger of a counterpart to Valancy in Barney Snaith, a man with an atrocious name who turns out to be one of the best dudes in all of romantic literature. show less
Valancy Sterling wakes up on the morning of her 29th birthday and realizes that she has nothing to live for. Her life to that point has been one of nearly unendurable monotony: she lives in genteel poverty with her mother and an elderly cousin, looked down on by every member of her extended family because she is an old maid. Her only joy in life is her imaginary "Blue Castle," where she leads a rich fantasy life of adventure and romance. But on this birthday morning, she feels it is time to face reality. One of the ways she does this is by going to see Dr. Trent, a heart specialist, about some pain she has been having. She does this without telling her mother or any of her family, as she dreads the fuss and advice of her family. But Dr. show more Trent's diagnosis, sent a few days later by mail, turns Valancy's world upside down: she is dying, with perhaps a year to live if she is careful. Valancy is not afraid of death, but she resents the fact that she is dying when she's never really had a chance to live -- so she decides that, for the time she has left, she will do whatever she wants, without worrying about her family's opinions or reactions. She goes to nurse an old school friend who is dying of consumption, even though her friend is the daughter of the town drunk and disgraced for having a child out of wedlock. She befriends the notorious Barney Snaith, a man with a mysterious past and an unconventional present way of life. She buys new clothes, reads whatever she wants, and does whatever she pleases. Her family thinks Valancy has gone mad. And then, Valancy does something even more outrageous: she asks Barney to marry her . . .
I don't know how I could objectively review this book; I've read it more times than I can count. I love the characters, the humor, the descriptions of nature, the wacky plot twists at the end of the book that manage to bring everything together. There's definitely romance -- a sort of sweet, unconventional one -- but the story is less about the romance and more about Valancy coming to terms with what she wants from life and bucking the rather ridiculous conventions of her day. This is my favorite Montgomery novel, and I definitely recommend it! show less
I don't know how I could objectively review this book; I've read it more times than I can count. I love the characters, the humor, the descriptions of nature, the wacky plot twists at the end of the book that manage to bring everything together. There's definitely romance -- a sort of sweet, unconventional one -- but the story is less about the romance and more about Valancy coming to terms with what she wants from life and bucking the rather ridiculous conventions of her day. This is my favorite Montgomery novel, and I definitely recommend it! show less
First sentence: 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's engagement picnic and Dr. Trent would have gone to Montreal. But it did rain and you shall hear what happened because of it.
The Blue Castle is a giddy-making romance by one of my favorite authors, L.M. Montgomery. I LOVE so many of Montgomery's books, but this one is one of my favorite favorites. One of those perfectly perfect books. For readers who don't appreciate old-fashioned, sweet romances, it may not be exceptional. But for me, it is near perfect!
Valancy Stirling is the heroine. An uncomfortable birthday is approaching, and she's never show more been in love, never even come close to falling in love. She hates the teasing she receives from her family because of her unmarried status. Hates it not only because it's rude, but because she longs for love, and aches for a happily ever after. She hates how everyone takes her for granted, how no one ever shows her any real consideration.
So one day Valancy decides to go to a doctor--a man who was not the official family doctor--with her symptoms of heart pain and palpitations. A family emergency calls the doctor away before he can share his diagnosis with her, but a letter arrives in the mail a few days letter, a letter with shocking news. SHE IS DYING. There are two things Valancy decides: 1) she will never, ever tell her family the news and 2) she will make all her own decisions and will start LIVING each day as if it were her very last.
The change in Valancy is oh-so-sudden and oh-so-shocking. The new Valancy has a voice, a loud voice, and a rebellious spirit. She will do things her way from now on. One of the first decisions she makes is that she will nurse a dying relative, Cissy, who is in disgrace with the family. She will keep house for "Roaring Abel." It is in her new position that she first meets Barney Snaith. And it is LOVE. The old Valancy would never have met him, would never have dared talk to him, but the new Valancy? Well, she has NOTHING to lose! So the two become friends--good friends. After Cissy's death, Valancy decides to take a big risk:
"I thought I'd run down and ask if there was anything I could do for you," said Barney.
Valancy took it with a canter.
"Yes, there is something you can do for me," she said, evenly and distinctly. "Will you marry me?"
For a moment Barney was silent. There was no particular expression on his face. Then he gave an odd laugh.
"Come, now! I knew luck was just waiting around the corner for me. All the signs have been pointing that way today."
"Wait." Valancy lifted her hand. "I'm in earnest--but I want to get my breath after that question. Of course, with my bringing up, I realize perfectly well that this is one of the things 'a lady should not do.'"
"But why--why?"
"For two reasons." Valancy was still a little breathless, but she looked Barney straight in the eyes while all the dead Stirlings revolved rapidly in their graves and the living ones did nothing because they did not know that Valancy was at that moment proposing lawful marriage to the notorious Barney Snaith. "The first reason is, I--I"--Valancy tried to say "I love you" but could not. She had to take refuge in a pretended flippancy. "I'm crazy about you. the second is--this."
She handed him Dr. Trent's letter.
Barney opened it with the air of a man thankful to find some safe, sane thing to do. As he read it his face changed. He understood--perhaps more than Valancy wanted him to.
"Are you sure nothing can be done for you?"
Valancy did not misunderstand the question.
"Yes. You know Dr. Trent's reputation in regard to heart disease. I haven't long to live--perhaps only a few months--a few weeks. I want to live them. I can't go back to Deerwood--you know what my life was like there. And"--she managed it this time--"I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That's all." (127, 128)
Will Barney say yes?! Will Valancy have her one happy year of real living, of JOY?
I adore this book! I love the romance. I love the characterization. I love the descriptive writing!
Favorite quotes:
Valancy never persisted. She was afraid to.
They never knew that Valancy had two homes--the ugly red brick box of a home, on Elm Street, and the Blue Castle in Spain. Valancy had lived spiritually in the Blue Castle ever since she could remember...
Reality pressed on her too hardly, barking at her heels like a maddening little dog.
Dr. Trent was over seventy and there had been rumours that he meant to retire soon. None of the Stirling clan had ever gone to him since he had told Cousin Gladys, ten years before, that her neuritis was all imaginary and that she enjoyed it. You couldn't patronise a doctor who insulted your first-cousin-once-removed like that--not to mention that he was a Presbyterian when all the Stirlings went to the Anglican church. But Valancy, between the devil of disloyalty to clan and the deep sea of fuss and clatter and advice, thought she would take a chance with the devil.
Fear--fear--fear--she could never escape from it. It bound her and enmeshed her like a spider's web of steel.
"Fear is the original sin," wrote John Foster. "Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something. It is a cold, slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading."
"'If you can sit in silence with a person for half an hour and yet be entirely comfortable, you and that person can be friends. If you cannot, friends you'll never be and you need not waste time in trying.'" show less
The Blue Castle is a giddy-making romance by one of my favorite authors, L.M. Montgomery. I LOVE so many of Montgomery's books, but this one is one of my favorite favorites. One of those perfectly perfect books. For readers who don't appreciate old-fashioned, sweet romances, it may not be exceptional. But for me, it is near perfect!
Valancy Stirling is the heroine. An uncomfortable birthday is approaching, and she's never show more been in love, never even come close to falling in love. She hates the teasing she receives from her family because of her unmarried status. Hates it not only because it's rude, but because she longs for love, and aches for a happily ever after. She hates how everyone takes her for granted, how no one ever shows her any real consideration.
So one day Valancy decides to go to a doctor--a man who was not the official family doctor--with her symptoms of heart pain and palpitations. A family emergency calls the doctor away before he can share his diagnosis with her, but a letter arrives in the mail a few days letter, a letter with shocking news. SHE IS DYING. There are two things Valancy decides: 1) she will never, ever tell her family the news and 2) she will make all her own decisions and will start LIVING each day as if it were her very last.
The change in Valancy is oh-so-sudden and oh-so-shocking. The new Valancy has a voice, a loud voice, and a rebellious spirit. She will do things her way from now on. One of the first decisions she makes is that she will nurse a dying relative, Cissy, who is in disgrace with the family. She will keep house for "Roaring Abel." It is in her new position that she first meets Barney Snaith. And it is LOVE. The old Valancy would never have met him, would never have dared talk to him, but the new Valancy? Well, she has NOTHING to lose! So the two become friends--good friends. After Cissy's death, Valancy decides to take a big risk:
"I thought I'd run down and ask if there was anything I could do for you," said Barney.
Valancy took it with a canter.
"Yes, there is something you can do for me," she said, evenly and distinctly. "Will you marry me?"
For a moment Barney was silent. There was no particular expression on his face. Then he gave an odd laugh.
"Come, now! I knew luck was just waiting around the corner for me. All the signs have been pointing that way today."
"Wait." Valancy lifted her hand. "I'm in earnest--but I want to get my breath after that question. Of course, with my bringing up, I realize perfectly well that this is one of the things 'a lady should not do.'"
"But why--why?"
"For two reasons." Valancy was still a little breathless, but she looked Barney straight in the eyes while all the dead Stirlings revolved rapidly in their graves and the living ones did nothing because they did not know that Valancy was at that moment proposing lawful marriage to the notorious Barney Snaith. "The first reason is, I--I"--Valancy tried to say "I love you" but could not. She had to take refuge in a pretended flippancy. "I'm crazy about you. the second is--this."
She handed him Dr. Trent's letter.
Barney opened it with the air of a man thankful to find some safe, sane thing to do. As he read it his face changed. He understood--perhaps more than Valancy wanted him to.
"Are you sure nothing can be done for you?"
Valancy did not misunderstand the question.
"Yes. You know Dr. Trent's reputation in regard to heart disease. I haven't long to live--perhaps only a few months--a few weeks. I want to live them. I can't go back to Deerwood--you know what my life was like there. And"--she managed it this time--"I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That's all." (127, 128)
Will Barney say yes?! Will Valancy have her one happy year of real living, of JOY?
I adore this book! I love the romance. I love the characterization. I love the descriptive writing!
Favorite quotes:
Valancy never persisted. She was afraid to.
They never knew that Valancy had two homes--the ugly red brick box of a home, on Elm Street, and the Blue Castle in Spain. Valancy had lived spiritually in the Blue Castle ever since she could remember...
Reality pressed on her too hardly, barking at her heels like a maddening little dog.
Dr. Trent was over seventy and there had been rumours that he meant to retire soon. None of the Stirling clan had ever gone to him since he had told Cousin Gladys, ten years before, that her neuritis was all imaginary and that she enjoyed it. You couldn't patronise a doctor who insulted your first-cousin-once-removed like that--not to mention that he was a Presbyterian when all the Stirlings went to the Anglican church. But Valancy, between the devil of disloyalty to clan and the deep sea of fuss and clatter and advice, thought she would take a chance with the devil.
Fear--fear--fear--she could never escape from it. It bound her and enmeshed her like a spider's web of steel.
"Fear is the original sin," wrote John Foster. "Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something. It is a cold, slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading."
"'If you can sit in silence with a person for half an hour and yet be entirely comfortable, you and that person can be friends. If you cannot, friends you'll never be and you need not waste time in trying.'" show less
If you have ever felt that life was drab and gray, have secretly longed to rebel against monotonous conformity and stifling convention, or escaped - if only in spirit - to your own private castle in the air, then you will recognize yourself in Valancy Sterling, the heroine of L.M. Montgomery's classic novel, The Blue Castle.
Twenty-nine years old and still a spinster, Valancy leads a cheerless existence, bullied by her emotionally distant mother and whiny Cousin Stickles. Hemmed in on all sides: by the poverty of her immediate family, by the restrictive social conventions governing the "respectable" middle class in early twentieth-century Canada, and by the horrible knowledge that she is unloved, unwanted, and unneeded, Valancy is near show more to the breaking point when fate steps in.
Diagnosed with an incurable and fatal heart illness, this quiet young woman decides to put aside fear, live life on her own terms, and seek - for the short time she has left - for her "Blue Castle." Leaving the confines of her mother's house, Valancy takes a job as housekeeper to Roaring Abel, the town drunk, shocking all of Deerwood by taking care of his dying daughter, Cissy Gay, whose unwed motherhood had made her the town pariah.
As Valancy steps out from the shadow cast by her unappreciative family, she slowly grows in confidence and sense of self. Her friendship with Barney Snaith - the disreputable young man who roars through town in his loud Grey Slosson, Lady Jane Grey - blossoms into love, and Valancy reaches for her Blue Castle, determined to be happy for at least one season. But will it be enough...?
I have read and reread this novel countless times since first discovering it as an adolescent, and it never fails to draw me into its world. With its beautiful depiction of a young woman discovering love and happiness for the first time, its many lovely passages about the wonders of nature, and its humorous send-up of the social conventions of the day, The Blue Castle is the perfect romance. The hero even loves cats! show less
Twenty-nine years old and still a spinster, Valancy leads a cheerless existence, bullied by her emotionally distant mother and whiny Cousin Stickles. Hemmed in on all sides: by the poverty of her immediate family, by the restrictive social conventions governing the "respectable" middle class in early twentieth-century Canada, and by the horrible knowledge that she is unloved, unwanted, and unneeded, Valancy is near show more to the breaking point when fate steps in.
Diagnosed with an incurable and fatal heart illness, this quiet young woman decides to put aside fear, live life on her own terms, and seek - for the short time she has left - for her "Blue Castle." Leaving the confines of her mother's house, Valancy takes a job as housekeeper to Roaring Abel, the town drunk, shocking all of Deerwood by taking care of his dying daughter, Cissy Gay, whose unwed motherhood had made her the town pariah.
As Valancy steps out from the shadow cast by her unappreciative family, she slowly grows in confidence and sense of self. Her friendship with Barney Snaith - the disreputable young man who roars through town in his loud Grey Slosson, Lady Jane Grey - blossoms into love, and Valancy reaches for her Blue Castle, determined to be happy for at least one season. But will it be enough...?
I have read and reread this novel countless times since first discovering it as an adolescent, and it never fails to draw me into its world. With its beautiful depiction of a young woman discovering love and happiness for the first time, its many lovely passages about the wonders of nature, and its humorous send-up of the social conventions of the day, The Blue Castle is the perfect romance. The hero even loves cats! show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Best L.M. Montgomery novels
20 works; 8 members
Comfort Reads
221 works; 41 members
Female Protagonist
1,056 works; 56 members
Books Read in 2022
5,164 works; 113 members
Books Read in 2020
4,379 works; 123 members
Five star books
1,755 works; 108 members
1920s
141 works; 6 members
Overdue Podcast
803 works; 9 members
Books Read in 2021
5,361 works; 114 members
Favourite Books
1,817 works; 316 members
Books Read in 2019
4,052 works; 110 members
Children's Literature 1900 - 1950 in order
413 works; 8 members
Books Read in 2023
5,547 works; 144 members
Books We Love to Reread
688 works; 296 members
Our Favorite Comfort Reads
334 works; 200 members
Books We Discovered On LibraryThing
530 works; 130 members
The Five Books That Represent Us
390 works; 147 members
Favorite Romance Fiction
247 works; 115 members
In and About the 1920s
181 works; 31 members
A Rainbow of Books: Colors in the Title
570 works; 24 members
Books with Colourful Titles
171 works; 8 members
Female Author
1,235 works; 67 members
Books I've Read More Than Once
602 works; 49 members
KayStJ's to-read list
1,616 works; 11 members
Most Popular Books Tagged Ontario
35 works; 2 members
Most Popular Books Tagged Canada
34 works; 1 member
I Could Live There
185 works; 12 members
Favorite Literary Love Stories
182 works; 100 members
Fiction Featuring Cranky, Eccentric Old Folks
80 works; 35 members
Favorite Childhood Books
1,602 works; 516 members
Books Read in 2013
1,629 works; 51 members
Books Set in Canada
80 works; 16 members
Books tagged favorites
390 works; 29 members
The Best Of
8 works; 1 member
Author Information
377+ Works 158,551 Members
One of the best-loved children's/young adult authors, Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on November 30, 1874 in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canada, the daughter of Hugh John and Clara Woolner. After attending Prince of Wales College and Dalhouse College in Halifax, she became a certified teacher, eventually teaching in Bideford, Prince Edward show more Island. She also served as an assistant at the post office and as a writer for the local newspaper, The Halifax Daily Echo. Best known for her Anne of Avonlea and Anne of Green Gables books, Montgomery received many high honors. She was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1923 and a Canadian stamp commemorates Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables. In addition, various museums dedicated to the book series and Montgomery's life dot Prince Edward Island. The books in the Anne series follow the growth and adventures of a red-haired, spritely, high-spirited and imaginative orphan named Anne who lives on Prince Edward Island. The success of these books rested in Montgomery's ability to vividly recollect childhood and her easy storytelling ability. They are tremendously popular to this day and have been translated into more than 35 languages and adapted as movies and PBS television productions. On July 5, 1911, L.M. Montgomery married Ewan Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister, and the marriage produced three children. She died on April 24, 1942. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Blue Castle
- Original title
- The Blue Castle
- Original publication date
- 1926
- People/Characters
- Valancy Stirling; Barney Snaith; Amelia, Mrs. Frederick Stirling; Christine Stickles; Cecily "Cissy" Gay; Abel "Roaring Abel" Gay (show all 15); Olive Stirling; Mary "Aunt Wellington" Stirling; Wellington Stirling; Benjamin Stirling; James Stirling; Georgiana Stirling; John Foster; Dr. Redfern; Dr. Trent
- Important places
- Mistawis, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada; Montréal, Québec, Canada; Deerwood, Ontario, Canada
- 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 go... (show all)ne 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... (show all) 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 away but ticked them off deliberately. It was the jolliest looking old clock. A fat, corpulent clock with a great, ... (show all)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 ch... (show all)anging 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.
(about the suggestion of owning a large house) "No. It's too elegant. I would have to carry it with me everywhere I went. On my back like a snail. It would own me - possess me, body and soul. I like a house I can love an... (show all)d cuddle and boss. Just like ours here."
All the tintings of winter woods are extremely delicate and elusive. When the brief afternoon wanes and the sun just touches the tops of the hills, there seems to be all over the woods an abundance, not of colour, but of the... (show all) spirit of colour.
"No, no. I don't want to forget Barney. I'd rather be miserable in heaven remembering him than happy forgetting him."
lakes drunken with moonshine - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)But, despite the delights before her--'the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome'--lure of the ageless Nile--glamour of the Riviera--mosque and palace and minaret--she knew perfectly well that no spot or palace or home in the world could ever possess the sorcery of her Blue Castle.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 3,590
- Popularity
- 4,515
- Reviews
- 133
- Rating
- (4.26)
- Languages
- 12 — Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese (Portugal)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 131
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 64
