I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
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I Capture the Castle
A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Author: Dodie Smith

Narrator: Holliday Grainger, Toby Jones

Unabridged: 1 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/03/2016

Categories: Fiction, Family Life

Synopsis

Toby Jones and Holliday Grainger star in a new BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Dodie Smith's enduringly popular coming-of-age novel In the 1930s, seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain lives in a crumbling ruin of a castle in the Suffolk countryside. Her father, an author wrestling with writer's block, spends his time reading detective stories; her bohemian stepmother Topaz is an artist's model, and her beautiful older sister Rose is determined to escape the poverty of their existence – ideally by marriage to a rich man. Intelligent and observant, Cassandra chronicles the eccentricities of her relations in her journal, in a bid to capture her family and their lives at the castle.

When two rich American brothers, Simon and Neil Cotton, arrive unexpectedly, the family's isolation is disrupted. Rose accepts a marriage proposal from Simon, and as she is whisked off to a world of wealth in London, Cassandra is left to deal with the increasingly bizarre behaviour of her father – as well as her own feelings for Simon...

Dodie Smith's charming, funny and poignant love story is a classic of 20th-Century English literature and this sparkling adaptation, starring Toby Jones and Holliday Grainger, will enchant and delight. Duration: 2 hours

Reviews

Goodreads review by Paul on February 01, 2014

My name is Cassandra Mortmain, I know it sounds made up but it’s true. I’m 17 and bright as a button and never been kissed because it’s the 1930s. My family are effortlessly bohemian, we all live in a crumbling castle – oh yes, quite literally! – and we have no money at all and we have only barely h......more

Goodreads review by Maggie on June 26, 2016

What a generous caretaker of a novel. If I say that this novel didn't require me to do any work, it sounds like a vague insult, as if I'm saying that the story or the characters were slight, and that's not at all what I mean. I mean that the novel, both through format (a very self-aware narrator's jo......more

Goodreads review by Martine on July 14, 2008

This is going to be the shortest review I've written on this site in a while. The reason I'm going to keep it short is because no description could possibly do justice to this quintessentially English coming-of-age story which ranks among the most pleasant surprises I've had, book-wise. A summary wo......more

Goodreads review by Elliott on May 02, 2010

That's right. I really liked it. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. Now, would you please excuse me while I go read Hemingway and then kill something with my bare hands.......more

Goodreads review by emma on April 03, 2020

The first half of this was like Jane Austen herself descended from the heavens (godlike) and delivered me, personally, a gift. The second half of this is like Jane Austen removed the mask and revealed she was just Some Romance Writer - not to be confused with a good romance writer, of which there are......more

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