A beautiful coming of age story set in a small village in England in the 30s is told through the journals of Cassandra Mortmain during her seventeenth year. I can't believe I never discovered this story while I was growing up. I think I got it confused with Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Insightful, charming and intelligent, Cassandra 'captures' the castle and all the denizens therein and nearby in a way that enticed me to stay up past my bedtime to finish reading it.
Beginning in extreme poverty because James Mortmain can't write a follow up to his classic book, the family prospers under the benevolence of the new landowners of the castle. Romance follows but there isn't a Hollywood ending. There is, of course, a thoughtful and 'right' ending.
Author Dodie Smith, who was already an established playwright, later became better known for writing The Hundred and One Dalmations, a children's classic.
And even though the movie isn't rated highly, I watched a trailer and decided I needed to request it from my local library, which, of course, didn't own it. Thank goodness for MeLCat, our statewide interlibrary loan system.
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