I Capture the Castle

First published in 1948, this novel is the journal of Cassandra Mortmain, a seventeen-year-old living in a ruined Suffolk castle with her family in genteel poverty. Her father, once famous for an experimental novel, has stopped writing; her stepmother Topaz models and communes with nature; her sister Rose wants clothes, money, and a way out. The American brothers Simon and Neil Cotton, heirs connected with the nearby estate, arrive and overturn the household's prospects. Cassandra records meals, schemes, and her own education in love and observation. The book is a coming-of-age story told as a diary, not a gothic romance of the castle itself.

Bound in blue cloth with a design in silver and black by Brouwer. Pale blue endleaves. Dark blue slipcase.