![]() ![]() Increasingly, Valancy takes refuge from her domineering mother and dull, pointless days in the ‘Blue Castle’ of her imagination. Valancy is only too miserably aware of her own shortcomings and lack of prospects she dreams of having her own husband, household and child but grimly acknowledges these desires are unlikely to be fulfilled. The reader’s sympathy readily extends to Valancy, who has been labelled an unmarriageable ‘old-maid’ by her family and is constantly needled over her plain looks and lack of social success. It is typical in the Stirling clan that Valancy’s birthday is a mere sideline, and that the day of her birth is traditionally given over to celebrating members of her extended family. ![]() ![]() The Blue Castle begins on Valancy Stirling’s 29th birthday, and Valancy’s only pleasure in the day is that the unseasonably cold, rainy weather means her family’s annual May picnic, celebrating the 30th engagement anniversary of her Aunt and Uncle Wellington, will be cancelled. The Blue Castle differs from much of Montgomery’s other work, as it is geared towards an adult audience, rather than YA readers, with its older heroine. The Blue Castle was originally published in 1926, when Montgomery was well-established as the author of Anne of Green Gables and was at the height of her writing powers (the Emily trilogy was published from 1923-1927). I hadn’t returned to this lesser-known work of Montgomery’s for years, and what a pleasure it was to reacquaint myself with its marvellous heroine, Valancy Stirling. ![]() At the start of May, I reread The Blue Castle * by L. ![]()
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