The Blue Castle

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Publisher: Aegitas
ISBN: 0369410254
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Book Description
"The Blue Castle" tells the story of a young woman named Valancy Stirling, who lives a dull and uneventful life in the restrictive and judgmental society of the early 20th century. She is unmarried and lives with her overbearing mother and cousin, and has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood and conformity. However, everything changes when Valancy receives a devastating medical diagnosis that gives her only a year to live. This news acts as a catalyst, prompting Valancy to break free from the constraints placed upon her and start living life on her own terms. She decides to leave her oppressive family environment and embrace her dreams and desires. Valancy's journey takes her to the fictional Blue Castle, a place of love and freedom that exists only in her imagination. In this imagined space, she meets a mysterious man named Barney Snaith, who becomes a symbol of hope and adventure in her life. Through "The Blue Castle," Montgomery explores themes such as self-discovery, the power of imagination, and the importance of living authentically. The novel challenges societal norms and expectations, highlighting the barriers placed on women during the early 20th century. Valancy's transformation from a meek and submissive woman to a vibrant and independent individual is both inspiring and empowering. Montgomery's writing is vivid and evocative, immersing readers in the beauty of the Canadian landscape and the emotions of the characters. Her descriptions of nature and the Blue Castle itself transport readers to a place of enchantment and possibility. The author's knack for creating memorable characters shines through in Valancy's journey, as well as in the supporting cast that includes eccentric family members and quirky townspeople. "The Blue Castle" stands apart from Montgomery's more famous works due to its departure from the author's usual setting of Prince Edward Island. The novel is set in the fictional Muskoka region of Ontario, providing a fresh and captivating backdrop. This change of scenery adds another layer of charm and uniqueness to the story. Overall, "The Blue Castle" is a delightful and heartwarming tale of self-discovery, courage, and love. It portrays the transformative power of embracing one's true desires and finding joy in unexpected places. Montgomery's masterful storytelling and the endearing characters make this a book you won't want to put down.

The Blue Castle

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
ISBN: 3988680494
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
You'll be liable to shy off at that title and say: "No more 'glad' books for me! I'm growing up!" But you'll be making a big mistake if you do. "The Blue Castle" is grown-up, too. And aside from being poignantly human, it is almost poetically beautiful in parts. "Moonlight on birches in a silver thaw. Ragged shadows on windy evenings - torn, twisted, fantastic shadows. Great silences, austere and searching. Jeweled, barbaric hills, and icy-grey twilights, broken by snowsqualls. Doesn't that have twice the color, twice the beauty and rhythm that five sixths of the "verse libre" printed today attains? And the story is fascinating. It's about Valancy Stirling, who for the twenty-nine years of her life has been tied down by fear. Fear of criticism, fear of her mother, fear of her whole "tribe." And when she finds that she has only a year to live she breaks away; defies them all. She goes to the home of Roaring Abel, an old reprobate, and takes care of his daughter, a poor little waif with an illegitimate child. And she proposes marriage to Barney Snaith, a man about whom nothing is known but much is said. Then life starts for Valancy, and for the reader too; mystery, love, humor and pathos. And when you finish it, it leaves you with all the most delightful sensations - the thrill of first love; the splendor of mountains and trees; the feeling that God is very close when the sky is so blue.

Jane of Lantern Hill

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Publisher:
ISBN: 1678019828
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
Jane of Lantern HillLucy Maud Montgomery Jane of Lantern Hill is a novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. The book was adapted into a 1990 telefilm, Lantern Hill, by Sullivan Films, the producer of the highly popular Anne of Green Gables television miniseries and the television series Road to Avonlea.Montgomery began formulating an idea on May 11, 1936, began writing on August 21, and wrote the last chapter on February 3, 1937. She finished typing up the manuscript on February 25, as she could not hire a typist to do it for her. This novel was dedicated to "JL", her companion cat.The novel was written at Montgomery's house, "Journey's End"; the environment influenced Montgomery's writing to create a

The Blue Cat of Castle Town

Author: Catherine Cate Coblentz
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486815277
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 131

Book Description
"The blue cat is like a knight on a quest. His quest is to find a hearth to fit the song the river taught him and to teach the owner of the hearth to sing that song"--Jacket.

The Last Castle

Author: Denise Kiernan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476794065
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 457

Book Description
A New York Times bestseller with an "engaging narrative and array of detail” (The Wall Street Journal), the “intimate and sweeping” (Raleigh News & Observer) untold, true story behind the Biltmore Estate—the largest, grandest private residence in North America, which has seen more than 120 years of history pass by its front door. The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York’s best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness. He summoned the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to tame the grounds, collaborated with celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a 175,000-square-foot chateau, filled it with priceless art and antiques, and erected a charming village beyond the gates. Newlywed Edith was now mistress of an estate nearly three times the size of Washington, DC and benefactress of the village and surrounding rural area. When fortunes shifted and changing times threatened her family, her home, and her community, it was up to Edith to save Biltmore—and secure the future of the region and her husband’s legacy. This is the fascinating, “soaring and gorgeous” (Karen Abbott) story of how the largest house in America flourished, faltered, and ultimately endured to this day.

Ladies of Missalonghi

Author: Colleen McCullough
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0380704587
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
Sometimes fairy toles can come true-even for plain,shy spinsters like Missy Wright. Neither as pretty as cousin Alicianor as domineering as mother Drusilla, she seems doomed to aquiet life of near poverty at Missalonghi, her family's pitifullysmall homestead in Australia's Blue Mountains. But It's a brandnew century-the twentieth-a time for new thoughts and boldnew actions. And Missy Wright is about to set every self-righteous tongue in the town of Byron wagging. Because she hasjust set her sights on a mysterious, mistrusted and unsuspectingstranger ... who just might be Prince-Charming in disguise.

The Ladies of Missalonghi

Author: Colleen McCullough
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780060157395
Category : Aunts
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
In the early 1900s after the male members of the family take the family inheritance, Missy Wright, her mother, and her aunt live in poverty until her cousin arrives from Sydney.

THE BLUE CASTLE (Unabridged)

Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 197

Book Description
This carefully crafted ebook: "THE BLUE CASTLE (Unabridged)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Valancy Stirling is twenty-nine, unmarried, and has lived her entire life with her gossip-minded family who actively discourage her happiness. When Valancy is diagnosed with a terminal heart ailment, she realizes she has never been happy in her life, and rebels against her family. Valancy decides to move out of her mother's house and take a position as a housekeeper for a friend of hers who is now gravely ill, Cissy Gay. Cissy and Valancy share a room and start spending time with Barney Snaith, who the townspeople are convinced is a criminal... The story takes place in the early 1920s in the fictional town of Deerwood, located in the Muskoka region of Ontario and based on the town of Bala, which Montgomery visited once. Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels with Anne of Green Gables, an orphaned girl, mistakenly sent to a couple, who had intended to adopt a boy. Anne novels made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays. Most of the novels were set in Prince Edward Island, and locations within Canada's smallest province became a literary landmark and popular tourist site.

The Blue Castle

Author: L. M. Montgomery
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504067967
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
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?

The Blue Castle

Author: L. M. Montgomery
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
L. M. Montgomery is perhaps best known as an author of youth fiction, especially her Anne of Green Gables series. But of her novels intended for adult readers, The Blue Castle is the most famous. In Valancy Stirling’s rural Ontario town, marriage is thought to be a young woman’s vital accomplishment. Yet Valancy, now in her late 20s, has never had a flicker of interest from any suitor. Add to this the oppressive home life she endures with her mother, and Valancy’s misery is complete. In order to find some relief, she builds a fantasy world in her imagination—her “Blue Castle”—full of love and beauty. Even this, however, fails to support her when her chest pains prove to be the sign of a terminal condition. This traumatic discovery combines with Valancy’s inspirational reading to prompt her to take back her life—much to her relatives’ consternation. Undeterred, Valancy finds new worth and freedom in relationships she could never have imagined before, which bring their own surprising twists and turns. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.