Becky’s Book Reviews: 123. The Blue Castle

123. The Blue Castle. L.M. Montgomery. 1926. 218 pages. [Audio book, Library, 5 Stars]

First sentence: If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling’s
whole life would have been entirely different. She would have gone, with
the rest of her clan, to Aunt Wellington’s engagement picnic and Dr.
Trent would have gone to Montreal. But it did rain and you shall hear
what happened because of it.

The Blue Castle is a giddy-making romance by one of my favorite authors,
L.M. Montgomery. I LOVE so many of Montgomery’s books, but this one is
one of my favorite favorites. One of those perfectly perfect
books. For readers who don’t appreciate old-fashioned, sweet romances,
it may not be exceptional. But for me, it is near perfect! 

Valancy Stirling is the heroine. An uncomfortable birthday is
approaching, and she’s never been in love, never even come close to
falling in love. She hates the teasing she receives from her family
because of her unmarried status. Hates it not only because it’s rude,
but because she longs for love, and aches for a happily ever after. She
hates how everyone takes her for granted, how no one ever shows her any
real consideration.

So one day Valancy decides to go to a doctor–a man who was not the
official family doctor–with her symptoms of heart pain and
palpitations. A family emergency calls the doctor away before he can
share his diagnosis with her, but a letter arrives in the mail a few
days letter, a letter with shocking news. SHE IS DYING. There are two
things Valancy decides: 1) she will never, ever tell her family the news
and 2) she will make all her own decisions and will start LIVING each
day as if it were her very last.

The change in Valancy is oh-so-sudden and oh-so-shocking. The new
Valancy has a voice, a loud voice, and a rebellious spirit. She will do
things her way from now on. One of the first decisions she makes
is that she will nurse a dying relative, Cissy, who is in disgrace with
the family. She will keep house for “Roaring Abel.” It is in her new
position that she first meets Barney Snaith. And it is LOVE. The old
Valancy would never have met him, would never have dared talk to him,
but the new Valancy? Well, she has NOTHING to lose! So the two become
friends–good friends. After Cissy’s death, Valancy decides to take a
big risk:

“I thought I’d run down and ask if there was anything I could do for you,” said Barney.

Valancy took it with a canter.

“Yes, there is something you can do for me,” she said, evenly and distinctly. “Will you marry me?”

For a moment Barney was silent. There was no particular expression on his face. Then he gave an odd laugh.

“Come, now! I knew luck was just waiting around the corner for me. All the signs have been pointing that way today.”

“Wait.”
Valancy lifted her hand. “I’m in earnest–but I want to get my breath
after that question. Of course, with my bringing up, I realize perfectly
well that this is one of the things ‘a lady should not do.'”

“But why–why?”

“For
two reasons.” Valancy was still a little breathless, but she looked
Barney straight in the eyes while all the dead Stirlings revolved
rapidly in their graves and the living ones did nothing because they did
not know that Valancy was at that moment proposing lawful marriage to
the notorious Barney Snaith. “The first reason is, I–I”–Valancy tried
to say “I love you” but could not. She had to take refuge in a pretended
flippancy. “I’m crazy about you. the second is–this.”

She handed him Dr. Trent’s letter.

Barney
opened it with the air of a man thankful to find some safe, sane thing
to do. As he read it his face changed. He understood–perhaps more than
Valancy wanted him to.

“Are you sure nothing can be done for you?”

Valancy did not misunderstand the question.

“Yes.
You know Dr. Trent’s reputation in regard to heart disease. I haven’t
long to live–perhaps only a few months–a few weeks. I want to live
them. I can’t go back to Deerwood–you know what my life was like there.
And”–she managed it this time–“I love you. I want to spend the rest
of my life with you. That’s all.” (127, 128)

Will Barney say yes?! Will Valancy have her one happy year of real living, of JOY?

I adore this book! I love the romance. I love the characterization. I love the descriptive writing!

Favorite quotes:

Valancy never persisted. She was afraid to.

They never knew that Valancy had two homes–the ugly red brick box of a
home, on Elm Street, and the Blue Castle in Spain. Valancy had lived
spiritually in the Blue Castle ever since she could remember…

Reality pressed on her too hardly, barking at her heels like a maddening little dog.

Dr. Trent was over seventy and there had been rumours that he meant to
retire soon. None of the Stirling clan had ever gone to him since he had
told Cousin Gladys, ten years before, that her neuritis was all
imaginary and that she enjoyed it. You couldn’t patronise a doctor who
insulted your first-cousin-once-removed like that–not to mention that
he was a Presbyterian when all the Stirlings went to the Anglican
church. But Valancy, between the devil of disloyalty to clan and the
deep sea of fuss and clatter and advice, thought she would take a chance
with the devil.

Fear–fear–fear–she could never escape from it. It bound her and enmeshed her like a spider’s web of steel.

“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.”

“‘If you can sit in silence with a person for
half an hour and yet be entirely comfortable, you and that person can be
friends. If you cannot, friends you’ll never be and you need not waste
time in trying.'”

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky’s Book Reviews