I Capture the Castle

Reviews / Votes

There are many good reasons to read Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle: it provides excellent advice about dressing on a budget (dye all your clothes sea-green); how to cope when the man you love falls for your elder sister (keep a diary) and your stepmother dances naked in the rain (ditto). Given that most teenagers believe their parents to be mad - and vice versa - the novel also serves as a helpful guide to recognising the fine line between eccentricity and outright insanity * Guardian * A book for anyone who is young, poor, fed up and yearning for something exciting to happen * Irish Times * When I read I Capture the Castle it immediately became one of my favourite novels of all time, and I was very annoyed that nobody had told me about it before -- J.K Rowling Unputdownable and loved by teenagers and adults everywhere. * Observer * Everyone I've passed it on to has found it a hit - it works every time, for absolutely everybody -- Nigella Lawson So what makes these different to any other set of classics? In a moment of inspiration Random House had the bright idea of actually asking Key stage 2 children what extra ingredients they could add to make children want to read. And does it work? Well, put it this way...my 13-year-old daughter announced that she had to read a book over the summer holiday and, without any prompting, spotted The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas...and proceeded to read it! Now, if you knew my 13-year-old daughter, you would realise that this is quite remarkable. She reads texts, blogs and tags by the thousand - but this is the first book she has read since going to high school, so all hail Vintage Classics! * National Association for the Teaching of English * A complete joy of an eccentric English coming-of-age novel -- Kerry Fowler * Sainsbury's Magazine * The perfect lockdown read - gentle and infused with a glowing warmth, featuring an emotional complexity that makes the simple story rewarding throughout * Independent *