The Blue Castle

By L. M. Montgomery

A young woman breaks free from her stifling home in search of love and freedom in this novel by the author of Anne of Green Gables.

Considered a spinster at the age of twenty-nine, Valancy Stirling believes she is destined to live out her days in rural Ontario with her domineering mother and aunt. She finds momentary escape in the books of her favorite author and fantasies of a “Blue Castle” where all her wishes come true. But when devastating news arrives from her doctor, Valancy decides to finally say and do exactly what she wants.

Though her family thinks she has gone mad, Valancy embarks on an adventure of discovery. Her newfound independence leads her to a world where anything is possible—even love. But is her new life just another illusion, or has she truly found the Blue Castle of her dreams?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Jan 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781504067966

L. M. Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942), born Lucy Maud Montgomery, was a Canadian author who worked as a journalist and teacher before embarking on a successful writing career. She’s best known for a series of novels centering a red-haired orphan called Anne Shirley. The first book titled Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908 and was a critical and commercial success. It was followed by the sequel Anne of Avonlea (1909) solidifying Montgomery’s place as a prominent literary fixture.

Book preview

CHAPTER I

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 to her because of it.

Valancy wakened early, in the lifeless, hopeless hour just preceding dawn. She had not slept very well. One does not sleep well, sometimes, when one is twenty-nine on the morrow, and unmarried, in a community and connection where the unmarried are simply those who have failed to get a man.

Deerwood and the Stirlings had long since relegated Valancy to hopeless old maidenhood. But Valancy herself had never quite relinquished a certain pitiful, shamed, little hope that Romance would come her way yet—never, until this wet, horrible morning, when she wakened to the fact that she was twenty-nine and unsought by any man.

Ay, there lay the sting. Valancy did not mind so much being an old maid. After all, she thought, being an old maid couldn’t possibly be as dreadful as being married to an Uncle Wellington or an Uncle Benjamin, or even an Uncle Herbert. What hurt her was that she had never had a chance to be anything but an old maid. No man had ever desired her.

The tears came into her eyes as she lay there alone in the faintly greying darkness. She dared not let herself cry as hard as she wanted to, for two reasons. She was afraid that crying might bring on another attack of that pain around the heart. She had had a spell of it after she had got into bed—rather worse than any she had had yet. And she was afraid her mother would notice her red eyes at breakfast and keep at her with minute, persistent, mosquito-like questions regarding the cause thereof.

Suppose, thought Valancy with a ghastly grin, I answered with the plain truth, ‘I am crying because I cannot get married.’ How horrified Mother would be—though she is ashamed every day of her life of her old maid daughter.

But of course appearances should be kept up. It is not, Valancy could hear her mother’s prim, dictatorial voice asserting, it is not maidenly to think about men.

The thought of her mother’s expression made Valancy laugh—for she had a sense of humour nobody in her clan suspected. For that matter, there were a good many things about Valancy that nobody suspected. But her laughter was very superficial and presently she lay there, a huddled, futile little figure, listening to the rain pouring down outside and watching, with a sick distaste, the chill, merciless light creeping into her ugly, sordid room.

She knew the ugliness of that room by heart—knew it and hated it. The yellow-painted floor, with one hideous, hooked rug by the bed, with a grotesque, hooked dog on it, always grinning at her when she awoke; the faded, dark-red paper; the ceiling discoloured by old leaks and crossed by cracks; the narrow, pinched little washstand; the brown-paper lambrequin with purple roses on it; the spotted old looking-glass with the crack across it, propped up on the inadequate dressing-table; the jar of ancient potpourri made by her mother in her mythical honeymoon; the shell-covered box, with one burst corner, which Cousin Stickles had made in her equally mythical girlhood; the beaded pincushion with half its bead fringe gone; the one stiff, yellow chair; the faded old motto, Gone but not forgotten, worked in coloured yarns about Great-grandmother Stirling’s grim old face; the old photographs of ancient relatives long banished from the rooms below. There were only two pictures that were not of relatives. One, an old chromo of a puppy sitting on a rainy doorstep. That picture always made Valancy unhappy. That forlorn little dog crouched on the doorstep in the driving rain! Why didn’t some one open the door and let him in? The other picture was a faded, passe-partouted engraving of Queen Louise coming down a stairway, which Aunt Wellington had lavishly given her on her tenth birthday. For nineteen years she had looked at it and hated it, beautiful, smug, self-satisfied Queen Louise. But she never dared destroy it or remove it. Mother and Cousin Stickles would have been aghast, or, as Valancy irreverently expressed it in her thoughts, would have had a fit.

Every room in the house was ugly, of course. But downstairs appearances were kept up somewhat. There was no money for rooms nobody ever saw. Valancy sometimes felt that she could have done something for her room herself, even without money, if she were permitted. But her mother had negatived every timid suggestion and Valancy did not persist. Valancy never persisted. She was afraid to. Her mother could not brook opposition. Mrs. Stirling would sulk for days if offended, with the airs of an insulted duchess.

The only thing Valancy liked about her room was that she could be alone there at night to cry if she wanted to.

But, after all, what did it matter if a room, which you used for nothing except sleeping and dressing in, were ugly? Valancy was never permitted to stay alone in her room for any other purpose. People who wanted to be alone, so Mrs. Frederick Stirling and Cousin Stickles believed, could only want to be alone for some sinister purpose. But her room in the Blue Castle was everything a room should be.

Valancy, so cowed and subdued and overridden and snubbed in real life, was wont to let herself go rather splendidly in her day-dreams. Nobody in the Stirling clan, or its ramifications, suspected this, least of all her mother and Cousin Stickles. 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. She had been a very tiny child when she found herself possessed of it. Always, when she shut her eyes, she could see it plainly, with its turrets and banners on the pine-clad mountain height, wrapped in its faint, blue loveliness, against the sunset skies of a fair and unknown land. Everything wonderful and beautiful was in that castle. Jewels that queens might have worn; robes of moonlight and fire; couches of roses and gold; long flights of shallow marble steps, with great, white urns, and with slender, mist-clad maidens going up and down them; courts, marble-pillared, where shimmering fountains fell and nightingales sang among the myrtles; halls of mirrors that reflected only handsome knights and lovely women—herself the loveliest of all, for whose glance men died. All that supported her through the boredom of her days was the hope of going on a dream spree at night. Most, if not all, of the Stirlings would have died of horror if they had known half the things Valancy did in her Blue Castle.

For one thing she had quite a few lovers in it. Oh, only one at a time. One who wooed her with all the romantic ardour of the age of chivalry and won her after long devotion and many deeds of derring-do, and was wedded to her with pomp and circumstance in the great, banner-hung chapel of the Blue Castle.

At twelve, this lover was a fair lad with golden curls and heavenly blue eyes. At fifteen, he was tall and dark and pale, but still necessarily handsome. At twenty, he was ascetic, dreamy, spiritual. At twenty-five, he had a clean-cut jaw, slightly grim, and a face strong and rugged rather than handsome. Valancy never grew older than twenty-five in her Blue Castle, but recently—very recently—her hero had had reddish, tawny hair, a twisted smile and a mysterious past.

I don’t say Valancy deliberately murdered these lovers as she outgrew them. One simply faded away as another came. Things are very convenient in this respect in Blue Castles.

But, on this morning of her day of fate, Valancy could not find the key of her Blue Castle. Reality pressed on her too hardly, barking at her heels like a maddening little dog. She was twenty-nine, lonely, undesired, ill-favoured—the only homely girl in a handsome clan, with no past and no future. As far as she could look back, life was drab and colourless, with not one single crimson or purple spot anywhere. As far as she could look forward it seemed certain to be just the same until she was nothing but a solitary, little withered leaf clinging to a wintry bough. The moment when a woman realises that she has nothing to live for—neither love, duty, purpose nor hope—holds for her the bitterness of death.

And I just have to go on living because I can’t stop. I may have to live eighty years, thought Valancy, in a kind of panic. We’re all horribly long-lived. It sickens me to think of it.

She was glad it was raining—or rather, she was drearily satisfied that it was raining. There would be no picnic that day. This annual picnic, whereby Aunt and Uncle Wellington—one always thought of them in that succession—inevitably celebrated their engagement at a picnic thirty years before, had been, of late years, a veritable nightmare to Valancy. By an impish coincidence it was the same day as her birthday and, after she had passed twenty-five, nobody let her forget it.

Much as she hated going to the picnic, it would never have occurred to her to rebel against it. There seemed to be nothing of the revolutionary in her nature. And she knew exactly what every one would say to her at the picnic. Uncle Wellington, whom she disliked and despised even though he had fulfilled the highest Stirling aspiration, marrying money, would say to her in a pig’s whisper, Not thinking of getting married yet, my dear? and then go off into the bellow of laughter with which he invariably concluded his dull remarks. Aunt Wellington, of whom Valancy stood in abject awe, would tell her about Olive’s new chiffon dress and Cecil’s last devoted letter. Valancy would have to look as pleased and interested as if the dress and letter had been hers or else Aunt Wellington would be offended. And Valancy had long ago decided that she would rather offend God than Aunt Wellington, because God might forgive her but Aunt Wellington never would.

Aunt Alberta, enormously fat, with an amiable habit of always referring to her husband as he, as if he were the only male creature in the world, who could never forget that she had been a great beauty in her youth, would condole with Valancy on her sallow skin—

I don’t know why all the girls of today are so sunburned. When I was a girl my skin was roses and cream. I was counted the prettiest girl in Canada, my dear.

Perhaps Uncle Herbert wouldn’t say anything—or perhaps he would remark jocularly, How fat you’re getting, Doss! And then everybody would laugh over the excessively humorous idea of poor, scrawny little Doss getting fat.

Handsome, solemn Uncle James, whom Valancy disliked but respected because he was reputed to be very clever and was therefore the clan oracle—brains being none too plentiful in the Stirling connection—would probably remark with the owl-like sarcasm that had won him his reputation, I suppose you’re busy with your hope-chest these days?

And Uncle Benjamin would ask some of his abominable conundrums, between wheezy chuckles, and answer them himself.

"What is the difference between Doss and a mouse?

The mouse wishes to harm the cheese and Doss wishes to charm the he’s.

Valancy had heard him ask that riddle fifty times and every time she wanted to throw something at him. But she never did. In the first place, the Stirlings simply did not throw things; in the second place, Uncle Benjamin was a wealthy and childless old widower and Valancy had been brought up in the fear and admonition of his money. If she offended him he would cut her out of his will—supposing she were in it. Valancy did not want to be cut out of Uncle Benjamin’s will. She had been poor all her life and knew the galling bitterness of it. So she endured his riddles and even smiled tortured little smiles over him.

Aunt Isabel, downright and disagreeable as an east wind, would criticise her in some way—Valancy could not predict just how, for Aunt Isabell never repeated a criticism—she found something new with which to jab you every time. Aunt Isabel prided herself on saying what she thought, but didn’t like it so well when other people said what they thought to her. Valancy never said what she thought.

Cousin Georgiana—named after her great-great-grandmother, who had been named after George the Fourth—would recount dolorously the names of all relatives and friends who had died since the last picnic and wonder which of us will be the first to go next.

Oppressively competent, Aunt Mildred would talk endlessly of her husband and her odious prodigies of babies to Valancy, because Valancy would be the only one she could find to put up with it. For the same reason, Cousin Gladys—really First Cousin Gladys once removed, according to the strict way in which the Stirlings tabulated relationship—a tall, thin lady who admitted she had a sensitive disposition, would describe minutely the tortures of her neuritis. And Olive, the wonder girl of the whole Stirling clan, who had everything Valancy had not—beauty, popularity, love—would show off her beauty and presume on her popularity and flaunt her diamond insignia of love in Valancy’s dazzled, envious eyes.

There would be none of all this today. And there would be no packing up of teaspoons. The packing up was always left for Valancy and Cousin Stickles. And once, six years ago, a silver teaspoon from Aunt Wellington’s wedding set had been lost. Valancy never heard the last of that silver teaspoon. Its ghost appeared Banquo-like at every subsequent family feast.

Oh, yes, Valancy knew exactly what the picnic would be like and she blessed the rain that had saved her from it. There would be no picnic this year. If Aunt Wellington could not celebrate on the sacred day itself she would have no celebration at all. Thank whatever gods there were for that.

Since there would be no picnic, Valancy made up her mind that, if the rain held up in the afternoon, she would go up to the library and get another of John Foster’s books. Valancy was never allowed to read novels, but John Foster’s books were not novels. They were nature books—so the librarian told Mrs. Frederick Stirling—all about the woods and birds and bugs and things like that, you know. So Valancy was allowed to read them—under protest, for it was only too evident that she enjoyed them too much. It was permissible, even laudable, to read to improve your mind and your religion, but a book that was enjoyable was dangerous. Valancy did not know whether her mind was being improved or not; but she felt vaguely that if she had come across John Foster’s books years ago life might have been a different thing for her. They seemed to her to yield glimpses of a world into which she might once have entered, though the door was forever barred to her now. It was only within the last year that John Foster’s books had been in the Deerwood library, though the librarian told Valancy that he had been a well-known writer for several years.

Where does he live? Valancy had asked.

Nobody knows. From his books he must be a Canadian, but no more information can be had. His publishers won’t say a word. Quite likely John Foster is a nom de plume. His books are so popular we can’t keep them in at all, though I really can’t see what people find in them to rave over.

I think they’re wonderful, said Valancy, timidly.

Oh—well— Miss Clarkson smiled in a patronising fashion that relegated Valancy’s opinions to limbo, I can’t say I care much for bugs myself. But certainly Foster seems to know all there is to know about them.

Valancy didn’t know whether she cared much for bugs either. It was not John Foster’s uncanny knowledge of wild creatures and insect life that enthralled her. She could hardly say what it was—some tantalising lure of a mystery never revealed—some hint of a great secret just a little further on—some faint, elusive echo of lovely, forgotten things—John Foster’s magic was indefinable.

Yes, she would get a new Foster book. It was a month since she had Thistle Harvest, so surely Mother could not object. Valancy had read it four times—she knew whole passages off by heart.

And—she almost thought she would go and see Dr. Trent about that queer pain around the heart. It had come rather often lately, and the palpitations were becoming annoying, not to speak of an occassional dizzy moment and a queer shortness of breath. But could she go to him without telling any one? It was a most daring thought. None of the Stirlings ever consulted a doctor without holding a family council and getting Uncle James’ approval. Then, they went to Dr. Ambrose Marsh of Port Lawrence, who had married Second Cousin Adelaide Stirling.

But Valancy disliked Dr. Ambrose Marsh. And, besides, she could not get to Port Lawrence, fifteen miles away, without being taken there. She did not want any one to know about her heart. There would be such a fuss made and every member of the family would come down and talk it over and advise her and caution her and warn her and tell her horrible tales of great-aunts and cousins forty times removed who had been just like that and dropped dead without a moment’s warning, my dear.

Aunt Isabel would remember that she had always said Doss looked like a girl who would have heart trouble—so pinched and peaked always; and Uncle Wellington would take it as a personal insult, when no Stirling ever had heart disease before; and Georgiana would forebode in perfectly audible asides that poor, dear little Doss isn’t long for this world, I’m afraid; and Cousin Gladys would say, Why, my heart has been like that for years, in a tone that implied no one else had any business even to have a heart; and Olive—Olive would merely look beautiful and superior and disgustingly healthy, as if to say, Why all this fuss over a faded superfluity like Doss when you have me?

Valancy felt that she couldn’t tell anybody unless she had to. She felt quite sure there was nothing at all seriously wrong with her heart and no need of all the pother that would ensue if she mentioned it. She would just slip up quietly and see Dr. Trent that very day. As for his bill, she had the two hundred dollars that her father had put in the bank for her the day she was born, but she would secretly take out enough to pay Dr. Trent. She was never allowed to use even the interest of this.

Dr. Trent was a gruff, outspoken, absent-minded old fellow, but he was a recognised authority on heart-disease, even if he were only a general practitioner in out-of-the-world Deerwood. 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.

CHAPTER II

When cousin Stickles knocked at her door, Valancy knew it was half-past seven and she must get up. As long as she could remember, Cousin Stickles had knocked at her door at half-past seven. Cousin Stickles and Mrs. Frederick Stirling had been up since seven, but Valancy was allowed to lie abed half an

Reviews for The Blue Castle

[pferdina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had no idea L.M. Montgomery wrote novels like this. I enjoyed the book very much. It was fun to see Valancy grow from a sad old maid of 29 to a happy, fulfilled young woman. I was glad she found love, but it was pretty clear that she didn't need Barney to be happy (at least until she fell in love with him).

[19anne44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as an Early Reviewer a while ago and didn't realize I had forgotten to review it. I couldn't relate well to the romantic Valency although I had a version of a Blue Castle which was much more practical than hers. It was a medical diagnosis that gave her the courage to change from an obedient daughter to a rebel much to the horror of her mother and her staid relations. Her life becomes much more interesting when she gets to know the "outcasts' of her village and horrifies her relatives by moving out. The descriptions of the village and the lake and forest are vivid enough to bring the scene to life. I enjoyed this book more than I expected since I'm not a reader of romances, but this was much more than a romance.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar WildeThat 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 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.”

[leann-362203 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a lovely read! I am just sad I didn't read this one sooner. If you haven't read it and you loved other books by Montgomery then do it... just read it. You won't be disappointed.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice! It's trite, and painfully sweet, and there's very little to the story - but it's fun, too. I loved the bits where Valancy finally spoke her mind. And the descriptions of the forest were gorgeous. I enjoyed watching Valancy come to life. And Barney is an idiot - oh, it makes sense, but he's still an idiot to go away without saying anything like that. Happy ever after...I hope she manages to suppress her family, though I suppose she won't be around them much. I enjoyed it, and I suspect I'll read it again in a while. It'll be interesting to know how it ends as I read - I suspected most of it, though not the Redfern connection.

[angiestahl-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Somehow I missed this when I was younger and heard about it for the first time fairly recently, thanks to the What Should I Read Next podcast. Although Anne of Green Gables was not one of my favorite books, I thought I'd give this a try. This is a very different story than that was with a very different protagonist.On the plus side, I laughed aloud several times. This is a fairly progressive in its way and for its time romance novel. It breaks conventions and has a strong female protagonist who realizes she has and can act on her own POV. The humor is dry, even droll, but it's plentiful, intelligent, sometimes sharp. The basic story without spoilers: the main character - Valency is 29 with no marriage prospects and considered a hopeless old maid. Her family are a bunch of priggish, judgy snobs who are very much into appearances, manners, and 'class' standing. They disapprove of her (and pretty much everyone for that matter) and delight in criticizing and looking down upon others. They generally bring to life the adage that misery loves company. Consequently, Valency grows up seeking their approval, chasing their expectations, and following their rules, even when her wishes or opinions (secretly, never expressed outwardly) are in conflict. After she visits a doctor for health concerns and receives a terminal diagnosis, she decides she's never really lived. For the year of life she's told she has left, she looks to life the life she wants regardless of how her family (or anyone else feels about it).She ends up in a living situation that's much gossiped about and scandal-adjacent and finds more than she bargained for. Her inner and outer life change completely in her 29th year.I'm glad I finally read this--my wish is I'd heard of it and read it sooner. That said, I'm not sure when the magic window is and am at somewhat of a loss on who to recommend it to. I feel like younger girls who might be open to trying it (like tweens and young teens) haven't lived enough to fully get it. Anne of Green Gables feels more their speed. On the other hand, older teens/younger 20s, or at least the ones I know, would be less likely to give this a chance.If you're weighing whether to give this a chance or want an alternative to Anne or a non-traditional period romance, give it a try.

[gabriel_13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Truly enjoyable but nothing profound, which is rather like Montgomery in general. The main character, a startlingly young (to our modern age) old maid, is shocked into overturning her family's (and society's) restrictions on her, but doesn't do anything really shocking. A lovely but simple story.

[samnreader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A bildungsroman if that sort of thing took place starting and ending at 29. Anyway, a heroine to root for, and that's all I can come up with.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The perfect antidote to the stress of watching the 2020 U.S. elections - a gentle love story.

[quondame · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you like your saccharine sweet, by all means indulge in the over the top romantic indulgence of the repressed mouse throwing over the traces and somehow having all the right opportunities.

[raidergirl3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was not the first time I've read The Blue Castle, and it won't be the last. Luckily, it had been long enough between reads that while I know the overall story, many of the details were fresh this time.Valency Stirling, 29 and an old maid in early 20th century Ontario, is stuck in her families perception of her and is just gentile enough to have no options. No husband, no job, no purpose in life. She puts up with everything until the day she gets a dire health prognosis and vows to live while she can. She lives her life as she chooses hanging around local undesirables like Roaring Abel and Barney Snaith, well, undesirable according to her clannish clan.With typical Montgomery style, coincidences happen, nature is adored, and there are happy endings. It is why I love LM Montgomey and what I look for in her books. Somewhere along the way I lost my copy of The Blue Castle so I was thrilled to win this Early Reviewer copy, with the most beautiful cover by illustrator Elly MacKay is one I'll happily hang on to and read again.Many fans of LM Montgomery claim The Blue Castle as their favourite, and it does not disappoint.

[dominiquemarie-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Back to the Classics Reading Challenge 2017
Category: Romance Classic

L. M. Montgomery wrote mostly children's books, but this book is geared toward adults. It is a hidden gem; a light read, but one with substance. The plotline of the movie, Last Holiday is very similar to this. Valancy Stirling lives with her mother and cousin, who are highly dysfunctional. Her extended family is just as dysfunctional, and they all live in the same town in Canada during the 1920's. At 30, she has been relegated to the status of "old maid". She is told by the Doctor that she has a year to live, tops. Upon hearing this news, she feels free to live and speak as she wants, which shocks her family. She moves out, and eventually, gets married. I won't give the rest away. The beginning of the book was a bit tedious, but it picks up after that. I actually laughed out loud several times!

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Valancy is turning 29 years old and is constantly reminded by her family that she is an old maid. She has always been a good, obedient daughter, but hates pretty much everything about her life with her family. She even wears only clothes her mother approves of and an old-fashioned hairstyle approved by her mother. When she receives some news, she finally stands up to her family and does things that she wants to do, just for herself. I really liked this. I liked Valency, though I hated her awful family. I liked some of the other characters, as Valency gets to know them after her rebellion from her family. It’s frustrating, the lack of options for an unmarried woman during this time (the 1920s). It’s slow-moving, but I really enjoyed it.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery; (3 1/2*)Valency is 29, plain, (so her family says), single and leading a miserable life at home with her mother and a second cousin. She hates her life, her house, her room and the way her family makes her every decision for her. Her mother and cousin dictate every detail of her life and all of the members of her extended family criticize her every move. Then on day she is diagnosed with a terminal heart condition and finds out that she has one year to live. Suddenly she doesn't care what anyone else thinks. She refuses to conform, makes shocking choices, and finds a new life for herself, possibly even including love.I enjoyed this book a great deal once I got about a third of the way through. The first part was an effort for me but I was so glad I stuck it out as the book was well worth that small effort.

[bookneurd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery was originally published in 1926 and has been reprinted several different times with many different covers. The covers, for the most part, could be divided into two categories - either the portrait of a solitary young woman or a dreamy image of a castle. The latest, published by Tundra Books in 2019, is neither. Rather, it is more metaphoric: a lone bird flying above its reflection in the water that stretches between two distant pieces of distinctly Canadian land. The new cover was designed by Kelly Hill and illustrated by Elly MacKay, a Canadian artist from Ontario. Instead of painting or drawing alone, MacKay works with paper and light to bring her images to life. She creates the illustrations and backgrounds, cuts them out and sets them up in a light theatre to be photographed with special filters and lighting to create a whimsical 3D effect. In the case of The Blue Castle, the cover reached right off of the paper and lured me in to the book (well, had I not been a lifelong L. M. Montgomery devotee). I suspect I'll be looking for more reprints of Montgomery's books as interpreted by MacKay. The story, if you haven't read it, its is a deftly told story from the perspective of the black sheep of a not-quite-rich-enough family. The main character is Valancy, a 29 year old 'spinster' who is fed up with the restricted, meaningless life she lives trapped beneath her mother's thumb. The story follows her as she finds the motivation to escape and live the life she wants, consequences be damned! As a 30 something, nearly 100 years after the books publication, I found it incredibly relatable; the rules are slightly different, but we are still playing the same games.Tundra's fresh reprint combined with MacKay's beautiful cover art breathe yet more life into L. M. Montgomery's books. The story of the Blue Castle is from simpler time, and provides a welcome escape from the fast moving world we live in now. Like many of her stories, it brings unexpected perspective to the daily grind and what constitutes a meaningful, well lived life.

[karenajeff · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

OK - I preface by saying I have loved L.M. Montgomery since my pre-teens. I read all the Anne books (not just the 1st 3) over and over. I read The Blue Castle a little later as a teen. I know it's old-fashioned, and you pretty well know what's going to happen but I still enjoyed it again now. I will say though that I think the stories in The Chronicles of Avonlea, and Further Chronicles of Avonlea are better - but again it has been years since I read these books. I do appreciate Tundra Books re-issuing this - great! How about the Chronicles?

[gilbertine_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was so pleased about winning this book in Early Reviewers. The Blue Castle is my favorite stand-alone L.M.Montgomery book (the Emily books are my favorite series).Unlike most of Montgomery's books this is not aimed at young readers - the protagonist is 29 years old. Valancy, known to her family as Doss, is a plain, repressed and disregarded spinster who, in a moment of rebellion born of a stunning diagnosis, takes control of her existence for the first time in her life. The family dinner party where she asserts her liberation and stuns the entire conventional clan is a lovely comic scene.The rest of the book continues her growth, and, most importantly, her relationship with an enimatic hero.The ending is way too coincidental to be even remotely believable yet somehow satisfying in a Cinderella way.

[mickyfine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Valancy Stirling has spent her entire twenty-nine years letting her fear of what her family would do determine her every action. However, when Valancy goes to see the doctor about some chest pain and is informed she has only a year to live, she realizes that she wants to truly live in the time she has left. Suddenly she's saying exactly what she thinks and doing precisely what she wants, which turns her whole world upside down in the best of ways.As one would expect of Montgomery, this is an utterly charming tale of finding yourself, your place in the world, and love all at the same time. I had a fair idea of exactly where the plot was going but it reduced none of the charm and Valancy is a lovely heroine once she gets past the self-pity phase. I did find it fascinating that this is the first of Montgomery's works that isn't set in PEI, although her descriptions of the woods in the Muskoka region of Ontario is just as beautiful as any of her prose about wildlife on the island.

[ang709 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[saresmoore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Valancy leads a miserable life, scorned and bullied by her unloving extended family. On her 29th birthday she secretly visits a doctor about her heart and learns that she has only a year to live. She decides to spend that year doing nothing she doesn't want to, moves out of her home, gets a job and asks Barney Snaith to marry her.The first half of this book was stronger than the second. I very much enjoyed the chapters where Valancy begins to speak her mind to her family, but once she and Barney got married there were chapters of them living blissfully in communion with nature and I started to skim. Things perked up again at the end though.

[foggidawn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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. 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!

[lcarter11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

At 29, Valancy takes a chance. And another. Leaving her stifling "life" behind wasn't that hard once she got around to doing it. But when two misunderstandings compound into her returning to it, her new(ish) husband must hurry and rescue her before it's too late.

[bradylouie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved the Anne of Green Gables books as a child and I was delighted to discover the author wrote books for adults. This is a very sweet romance. It was predictable in the conclusion, but still enjoyable. I loved the biting humor of Valancy's reactions to her family after she lets go of her fear but that is lost when she left home.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ms. Montgomery paints a picture of Valancy's transformation that is charming and romantic. Though the story focuses almost exclusively on the contrast between her former life and the one she dares to reach out for, Valancy's is not the only life that changes. Her genuine love transforms Barney as well, which is even more satisfying. This is the perfect feel good book.

[librarycatnip · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I guess it has been a long time since I read this one. I loved it the first time I read it, Valancy speaks to the heart of my inner rebel who, like her, had no past to speak of on that first reading. Even as I get older, I find it is the things I didn't do, the people I didn't tell to go f*ck themselves, that I regret; not the things I've done and the scars I've gained in the doing, those are a lighter burden.

The book opens to Valancy on her 29th birthday as she considers the blandness of her existence. She slips away from her socially draconian relatives to see a doctor about heart pain, and is told she has a year to live. Despite the somewhat cliched premise, this book manages to be matter of fact, endearing, inspirational and heart rending by turns. It argues that a life lived in fear isn't a life worth living, particularly where obedience to social conventions are concerned.

Valancy is a delightful heroine, and her good-hearted social irreverence continue to comfort me in my anxiety over asserting myself and my needs in a world that would be happier with my submission.

[devafagan-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

2011 Re-read: Still love this so much! Quite a different mood than Anne, but one of my favorites. I adore the descriptions of the Muskoka woods, and Valancy's development from fearful, meek, downtrodden young woman to strong, passionate, confident woman.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another great book by L. M. Montgomery that is more grown up than her books set on Prince Edward Island. Years after this book was written Colleen McCullough wrote a book with a similar storyline, The Ladies of Missalonghi.