Quoted: Dodie Smith

It's been ages since I've posted a quotation that piqued my interest and caught my fancy. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith is one of my all-time favourite novels, although technically it's considered a book for an audience much younger than I am. I've reread it many times, yet I still enjoy the escapist element of Cassandra Mortmain's story and her life with her impoverished artistic family, living in a castle ruin in the countryside and, alongside her sister, searching for love. The theme of learning to deal with unrequited love in the book is quite poignant as well; it's so refreshing in a world where most children's books deliver happy endings for their protagonists.

I love the concluding sentiment of this paragraph:

"I don't believe I could look a beggar in the face if my trousseau had cost a thousand pounds...Oh, come--Mrs Cotton wouldn't give the thousand pounds to beggars if she didn't spend it on Rose, so Rose might as well have it. And I shall certainly be delighted to accept clothes from Rose. I ought to be ashamed--being glad the riches won't be on my conscience, while only too willing to have them on my back."

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