Blue Castle

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Stirling at age 20. Valancy believes her mother is "Ashamed every day of her old maid daughter" (Chapter She finds friendship, love and peace and her Perfect Blue Castle and ..... - I don't think I need to put this under a spoiler tag, because you can all see it coming from almost the very beginning - things just turn out all right at the end. not—beauty, popularity, love..." (Chapter 1). Olive has "Rich, golden-brown hair," "large, brilliant blue I was also pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was Valancy who proposed to Barney, and he just casually accepted! That was a fun twist, I thought. :)

Cecil - a man who has been engaged to Olive Stirling for three years. He recently graduated in civil engineering, scream out in pain. When Valancy got into trouble, she explained to Aunt Isabel that Byron had pinched her. He lied, and Valancy was sent home in disgrace because "boys were always believed before the girls" in the Stirling clan (Chapter 8). The Blue Castle is a story of courage, of finding one's inner strength to fight fear, of standing up to family bullying and oppression, of finding life and living it on one's own terms, and finally of healing with the help of nature and love. The story is simple, perhaps too simple, but that didn't in any way impede the strong message of hope that is conveyed. In the present trying times, there are moments that our courage fails us when we lose hope that there could be better times ahead for us. In these moments of despair, Valancy Sterling gives us hope to journey through life amidst many adversaries. When I came across The Blue Castle a few years ago, I thought it was merely a young adult romance. I don't read romance novels now. I've read them enough for a lifetime when I was a young adult myself. :) But recently when it came to my notice again, I thought I'll give it a try. I told myself that I would endure it because it was a work of L.M. Montgomery and because my bookshelf is in want of Canadian literature. The first few chapters, however, were enough to set me straight. This wasn't a romance novel. Of course, it has romance but the story goes deeper than that. I was pleasantly surprised and a tad bit annoyed for judging a book too hastily by its cover. Street house. She was married at 17 and "whined endlessly" and complained about everything. Valancy describesOne of her favourite escapes, too, was reading John Foster's nature books, which truly freed her soul and let her marvel and wonder over nature's beautiful gifts. With John Foster, one felt such a oneness with nature and a satisfying sense of well-being that it was impossible to resist dreaming. Snaith. Sadly, Cissy's baby died when it was a year old, and then Cissy was diagnosed with consumption and

Disney Channel aired its own heart-warming portrayal of small-town Canadiana when it broadcast the Anne of Green Gables spinoff drama Avonlea during the 1980s and 1990s.

Redfern), Dr. Redfern and Barney moved to Montreal where he began to invent his cure-alls and became rich (Chapter After Cissy dies, Valancy asks Barney to marry her. She confesses that she's dying and Barney agrees to marry her. He takes her to live with him on his island up in the woods, which Valancy refers to as their Blue Castle. Valancy and Barney live over a year together and Valancy's heart problems seem to be decreasing until the point that the condition disappears. Fear is the original sin," wrote John Foster. "Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something. It is a cold, slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading." Rebellion flamed up in her soul as the dark hours passed by – not because she had no future but because she had no past.”

a dance there that becomes rowdy, "noisy and reeking." When a drunk, predatory man and his friends target Valancy, Barney on Valancy's birthday, her mother tells her to "'Sit up straight, Doss,'" without any kind wishes (Chapter 3). Trent, Dr. - an elderly, absent-minded doctor who specializes in heart disease. He is over seventy years old Warning- This novel is endearing and filled with ardour to a dangerous level, that one can risk into crooning and canoodling with the novel throughout!

History

Mrs. - Barney's mother, who died when he was two years old. She was a school teacher and was fifteen given months to live. Two years later, Cissy was still alive, but no one went to see her (Chapter 14). When Valancy learns that the Gay family doesn't have a housekeeper, she leaves home and moves into their household to care for Cissy. Near the end of her life, Cissy confides in Valancy that the Woods, water, pure air, a lovely cabin, no demands from society or from tiresome family members., experiencing the change of seasons on your doorstep, BLISS, right?

Valancy recently turned 29, and her life is a disappointment. Nothing ever happens to her, she is disrespected, unnoticed by her judgmental family except for the times they make fun of her spinsterhood. I've been trying to please other people all my life and failed,' she said. 'After this I shall please myself. I shall never pretend anything again. I've breathed an atmosphere of fibs and pretences and evasions all my life. What a luxury it will be to tell the truth! I may not be able to do much that I want to do but I won't do another thing that I don't want to do. Mother can pout for weeks--I shan't worry over it. 'Despair is a free man--hope is a slave'" Post coming out of the clutches of her domineering and imperious family, she lands into a job of a caretaker of one of her former schoolmates, Cissy(who is passing away due to consumption). While working, she develops closeness with Barney Snaith! The character building was impressive. Montgomery managed to get the grating relatives just right, and I knew this because as I was reading their sections, I felt quite irritated! I also thought that Barney was portrayed well. He was a decent person, not some guy who waltzed in thinking he was some irresistible casanova. It was refreshing.minister who once tried to reform Roaring Abel (Chapter 14). Probably the same Presbyterian minister that L.M. Montgomery calls Rev. Bradly in Chapter 24. the equipment for his chemical experiments. She also learns that Barney is John Foster when she sees