An episode about fur coats was distasteful.
I didn’t enjoy Cassandra’s constant fawning over her bull-terrier (although it makes sense, as Dodie Smith wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians) or how the adults all called her a ‘child’ even though she turns 18. In some respects it seems quite modern today, but in others – notably the obsession with the differences between Brits and Americans, the stodgy diet, perspectives on race and social class – it is definitely of a bygone age. I think the book is a forerunner of the confessional teen novel and it must have been very influential. I found the pace rather slow at times and I became impatient when nothing much was happening, particularly around the halfway mark. When the story was away from the castle, it wasn’t as interesting. The setting, characters and humour are the strengths of this book. I would classify it as YA but it could also be enjoyed by adults. It’s a coming-of-age story with influences of Jane Austen, Stella Gibbons and even Thomas Hardy. When they are discovered by Simon and Neil, two handsome brothers from America, the heirs to the estate, everyone’s emotions are plunged into turmoil and Cassandra finds that she’s growing up. They are in picturesque poverty which seems romantic to outsiders. She lives in a crumbling castle with her father (a very strange figure who is apparently a genius), bohemian step-mother Topaz, beautiful sister Rose, brother Thomas, servant / friend / admirer Stephen, a cat and a dog. Set in the 1930s, the story is narrated by 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, who is ‘capturing’ her experiences and observations in a diary. I know this is a special book for many readers but I had mixed feelings.
I remember being disappointed but I couldn’t remember why, so I’ve re-read it.
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