I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith was one of those books --the ones that you open and within five pages you know you were destined for each other.

It was perhaps the first book I had ever read in the journal entry form and at first the restrictions this particular style puts upon the storyline bothered me. Yet once the characters began to unfold I felt as if I was reading the diary of a sister and catching glimpses into her life that I would otherwise never have known.

And since I Capture the Castle is first and foremost a love story, it makes for a good diary to peek into.

The song I picked to go with this book is Wherever You Will Go by The Calling. I found that the song brought to mind various characters throughout the story, but the most common among those characters is Stephen.

Stephen is the quiet family friend that watches wistfully from the sidelines as life seemingly moves on without him. He's the 'farmboy' that watches while the one he loves remains indifferent.

"Stephen has come in now. The first thing he did was to light a candle and stick it on the window-ledge beside me, saying:

'You're spoiling your eyes, Miss Cassandra.'

Then he dropped a tightly folded bit of paper on this journal. My heart sank, because I knew it would contain a poem; I suppose he has been working on it in the barn. It is written in his careful, rather beautiful script. The heading is' "To Miss Cassandra" by Stephen Colly'. It is a charming poem--by Robert Herrick.

What am I to do about Stephen...I ought to tell him that I know he merely copies the poems..."


Stephen is never far away from Cassandra. He seems to always be there whenever she needs him to be.

" 'What's happened, what's wrong?' he cried.


I told him as quickly as I could--leaving out the quarrel with Rose

. . . .

[He] didn't arrive until [around] three o'clock- he said he'd had to walk nearly a mile before finding a taxi. He had an odd, strained look which I put down to his having been so frightened about me."

The lyrics of Wherever You Will Go:


"If I could, then I would
I'll go wherever you will go
Way up high or down low
I'll go wherever you will go

And maybe, I'll find out
The way to make it back someday
To watch you, to guide you
Through the darkest of your days
If a great wave should fall
It would fall upon us all
Well I hope there's someone out there
Who can bring me back to you"

I recommend reading the book and finding out which character you think fits best with the song... then come back and tell us!

Book: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Music: Wherever You Will Go by The Calling