The Blue Castle By L. M. Montgomery | Book Review

How would you live if you knew you only had one year left to live it?

The other night I devoured the book The Blue Castle, the lesser known of L. M. Montgomery’s novels and the only novel of hers that has not been made into a film or television adaption. It was glorious and very unexpected. I enjoyed every moment.

While most of L. M. Montgomery’s novels are for children, this book is not and it was actually banned in many places when it was published in the mid 1920’s for it’s “racy” and “inappropriate” content. I love a fellow woman who shatters expectations and makes a scandal from living her best life (or in this case, inspiring others to break free and live their best lives).

The novel follows Valancy Stirling, a young woman who has just turned twenty-nine. The novel begins on her 29th birthday where we learn that she lives at home with her overbearing and emotionally abusive mother and equally controlling and boorish old cousin Stickles. Her father passed away when she was an infant and she knows very little of him. She is unmarried and considered an “old maid”, not just by society, but also by her large extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins who bully her for her lack of beauty and prospects. They constantly compare her to her younger and more beautiful cousin Olive and tease her for the shape of her eyes, which are unlike the rest of the family’s. Valancy, who they call “Doss,” a nickname she despises, is first depicted as shy and timid. She is a quiet young women and always doing as she is told.

She wears her hair the way she is told, cleans as she is told, looks after her elderly cousin as she is told, wears what she is told, and even wakes up when she is told she must each morning in a sparse room decorated by her mother in a way that she despises. She has very little for herself except the “blue castle,” an imaginary home that lives inside her imagination. Valancy spends most of her life escaping into the nature books of her favorite author John Foster or escaping into her head, fantasizing about the home she wants and a romance that she one day hopes for, but never expects. She has had this blue castle since she was a young girl and as the years go by the castle and romantic interest evolves and changes, but still remains her escape from reality.

Valancy is ready for a change. She hates her life and wishes to escape for real, but does not have the courage to do so or to even stand up for herself against her family. Now here come the spoilers.

*Skip this part to avoid the spoilers. I will let you know when it is safe to continue reading without giving away anything important. 

Hating her life, Valancy is also experiencing chest pains. It is on her 29th birthday that she decides to sneak from the house to see a heart doctor in town. Later that evening she receives a letter from him delivering the terrible news that she has heart disease and likely only a year to live. It is this letter and the fact that she has nothing more to lose that gives Valancy the courage to talk back to her emotionally abusive family. It starts with her wearing her hair the way she wants and then responding to rude comments at a family gathering instead of quietly tolerating the onslaught.

Days later she moves out and accepts a job as a housekeeper for Abel, the town drunk, whose daughter Cissy is dying of consumption. Cissy and Valancy were schoolmates, although they were not friends. Cissy became just as outcasted as her father when she had a baby out of wedlock, even after the baby died. Now that she is dying, Valancy becomes her caretaker and they also develop a friendship, Valancy’s first real friend. Through Cissy she becomes friends with another outcast in town, a poor man named Barney Snaid. Rumors about this man are also unpleasant, many believing he is some sort of vagrant or criminal.

When Cissy passes her entire family shows up to the funeral to pretend to be proud of Valancy for her kind deeds towards Cissy as a way of keeping up public appearances and they demand she comes home. No longer needed as a caregiver and knowing that her family hopes to marry her off to an old widower with nine children, Valancy does not want to return home so she asks Barney Snaid to marry her. She tells him that it will be for a short while because of her heart condition and he says yes, going out that night to pick up a ring and a marriage license. When she tells her family she has wed Barney, they claim she is dead to them, but Valancy has learned not to care. I really admire her for shedding off her family’s expectations and opinions.

At this point in the novel I was not a fan of Valancy marrying a stranger, but I also respect that in this time period a woman in her poor position has very little opportunities and marriage is a sure way to win her freedom from her family. My opinion quickly changes as Barney becomes a great friend, protector, and confidant to Valancy. He takes her to his little shack on a local island where he lives and when she sees it, Valancy is overcome with happiness for finding her “blue castle.” Together they spend a wonderful year away from her family and in nature. Barney teaches her how to canoe and how to swim. She spends her time doing what she loves, wearing what she wants, and reading as much as she wishes.

Until one day almost a year later Valancy’s shoe gets stuck in train tracks while a train is coming down the tracks. Barney does everything he can to free her and risks his own life to save hers. Thankfully, both escape in time and sit in shock for a moment, shock because Barney realizes how much he loves Valancy and is distraught knowing that they have very little time left, and Valancy because the excitement did not cause a heart attack. Barney leaves for a couple days to clear his head and Valancy returns to her doctor to discover that the letter was meant for a different patient, not her. She is perfectly healthy.

Feeling as though she has trapped Barney into a marriage he cannot even afford to divorce from, she decides to leave. That is when she meets Barney’s father, who also happens to be millionaire Mr. Redfern. Feeling more ashamed for “trapping” Barney, she decides to leave him a note and finds a pen in his shed, where she is not supposed to intrude. this is where she discovers that not only is he the heir to the Redfern fortune, he is also the famous author and nature writer she so loves, John Foster! She leaves him the note and returns to her fmaily, sullen and ready to go back to her place as the black sheep in the family. That is, until Barney goes after her the next morning.

*End spoilers

This story has turned into a very unexpected romance and also one of my favorites. When I got to the end I cried for the happiness of it all. Not only does Valancy break free from her toxic family and find happiness for herself, she also finds true friendship and love.

As someone who also broke free from a toxic family unit and has created a better life, I truly connected with Valancy. When hearing her sad history you cannot help but feel for her and also feel frustration for her accepting the emotional abuse in the beginning. When she breaks free, it is a true triumph and the mischief she creates while doing so is so much fun to read.

I read half the book in bed the first night and polished it off after work the next day. It was one of those books that reminds you just how much fun a written story can be, with a hero to relate to, cheer for, and admire. Although it takes place in the 1920s when it was written, it is very relatable. I could not put it down. When I closed the book I cried tears of happiness, but also sadness that the book was over.

Reasons why I love this book:

• The beautiful and descriptive writing was such a pleasure to experience.
• Valancy’s shocking and exciting transformation and growth. I love reading about relatable characters who overcome. Although she is shy, she is also very strong and she eventually owns her own life.
• The unexpected romance at the end. Most of this books is about Valancy and her courage to change her own destiny. This is not just another love story. She does not need a man to save her and Barney is not that man in the book. He is a trusted friend and confidant. But wow, the ending! For me, this was very realistic because love is not sudden. It is something that grows. Barney truly grows to love Valancy over time because of his love for who she is as a person.
• How much I relate to Valancy. I know that not everyone will relate to her the same way, but all of us can relate to being unhappy in our lives in some fashion and dreaming up a better future. Valancy does not exactly know how to get what she wants or even thinks it is attainable, but she keeps trying. I admire her tenacity.
• I rate this book a solid five out of five stars for multiple reasons; the originality of the story, the incredible array of emotions the story evokes, for how much growth the main character goes through from the start of the novel until the end, for the incredibly beautiful descriptive writing style and characterization, and for how captivating the story was. I did not want to put it down and that has not happened with me in a while.

Everyone has a blue castle; be in a career path, a dream home, or love and friendship. It was a delight experiencing Valancy finding her own blue castle. I hope you find yours.