I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Summary

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith is a coming-of-age novel set in 1930s England, following 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain as she chronicles her eccentric family's life in a decaying castle through her journal. The family struggles with genteel poverty after her father, once a successful modernist author, succumbs to writer's block. Everything changes when two wealthy American brothers inherit the estate, bringing romance, complications, and the possibility of rescue from their impoverished circumstances.

Dodie Smith was an established English playwright who wrote I Capture the Castle as her first novel during World War II while living in exile in California with her husband, a conscientious objector. She later became internationally famous for writing the children's classic The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Smith wrote I Capture the Castle over four years in what her biographer calls "a fever of nostalgia for England," bringing her close to a breakdown as she struggled to transition from writing dialogue to prose.

I Capture the Castle is perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven coming-of-age stories, fans of Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters with a modernist twist, and anyone who appreciates witty first-person narration. The novel appeals to those interested in writer protagonists, romantic entanglements in English countryside settings, and explorations of poverty, class, and family dynamics in the 1930s. Young adults and adults alike will connect with Cassandra's journey from girlhood to womanhood through honest, entertaining journal entries.

I Capture the Castle is widely considered a literary classic, ranking #82 in the BBC's 2003 Big Read survey of beloved books. The novel's enduring appeal lies in its perfect balance of humor, romance, and emotional depth, with readers praising Cassandra's witty, honest voice and the book's ability to capture both the bliss and pain of growing up. It's a quintessential bildungsroman that refuses to reduce a young woman's story to just romance, focusing instead on her development as a writer and individual. Many readers report being unable to put it down once they start.

The opening line of I Capture the Castle is "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink," one of the most famous first lines in English literature. This memorable sentence immediately establishes Cassandra Mortmain's quirky voice and the novel's intimate journal format. The unconventional setting reflects the eccentric nature of the Mortmain family and their creative approach to life despite poverty. Smith's biographer notes that both the opening and closing lines ("Only the margin left to write on now. I love you, I love you, I love you") perfectly capture the novel's central theme of storytelling.

Cassandra Mortmain is the 17-year-old narrator and protagonist of I Capture the Castle, an aspiring writer who chronicles her family's life through journal entries. She is the middle child of writer James Mortmain, positioned between her beautiful older sister Rose and younger brother Thomas, and she devotes herself to "capturing" everything around her in writing. Throughout the novel, Cassandra experiences her first love, grapples with her father's creative struggles, and matures from girl to woman while developing her own identity as a writer.

I Capture the Castle explores coming-of-age as its central theme, focusing on Cassandra's journey from childhood to young adulthood independent of romantic resolution. The novel deeply examines authorship and creative struggle, featuring Cassandra's writer father suffering from decade-long writer's block and her own development as a storyteller. Other significant themes include genteel poverty and class distinctions in 1930s England, the limitations placed on women who must marry for economic security, first love and romantic entanglements, and the tension between artistic integrity and commercial success.

I Capture the Castle follows the Mortmain family over six months from April to October in the 1930s as they struggle with poverty in their crumbling castle. When wealthy American brothers Simon and Neil Cotton inherit the estate, Rose schemes to marry Simon for his money, while Neil secretly kisses her after mistaking her for a bear in oversized furs. Cassandra falls in love with Simon, helps her father overcome writer's block by locking him in a tower, and eventually discovers Rose has run away with Neil to America. The novel ends with her father writing again, Simon still loving Rose, and Cassandra refusing his proposal to pursue her own writing career.

The decaying castle in I Capture the Castle symbolizes both romantic possibility and genteel decline, representing the Mortmain family's fall from literary success into poverty. Its crumbling walls mirror James Mortmain's creative deterioration and the family's dwindling finances, while its romantic setting provides the backdrop for Cassandra's coming-of-age and first love. The castle also represents England itself, as Dodie Smith wrote the novel while exiled in California during World War II, channeling her nostalgia for her homeland into this quintessentially English setting.

I Capture the Castle deliberately echoes Jane Austen's novels by placing unconventional but naïve heroines in a romantic countryside setting with eligible bachelors, class tensions, and matrimonial plots. Smith puts a modernist spin on Austen's formula, including tropes like a well-meaning old maid and steady country vicar, but subverts expectations by making the love story secondary to Cassandra's personal growth. Unlike Austen heroines whose stories resolve with marriage, Cassandra chooses her writing career over romantic attachment, refusing to marry Simon even though she loves him.

I Capture the Castle is a quintessential bildungsroman because it chronicles Cassandra's transformation from 17-year-old girl to young woman through her journal entries over six months. The novel focuses on her emotional maturation, first experience with romantic love, disillusionment with her father, and development as a writer rather than resolving with marriage. Smith refuses to subordinate Cassandra's personal growth to a love story, making the novel about self-discovery, learning to scrutinize her own motives, and emerging into adulthood with her own ambitions intact.

Writer's block is central to I Capture the Castle's exploration of authorship and creativity. James Mortmain hasn't written anything meaningful in the decade since his groundbreaking modernist novel Jacob Wrestling, leaving his family impoverished and living on dwindling royalties. Through her father's struggle, Cassandra learns that writing requires dedication, can be isolating, and that capturing the world in words is a deeply personal act. The theme culminates when Cassandra discovers her father needs shock to restart his creativity, leading her to lock him in a tower until he begins writing again—a plan that ultimately succeeds.