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I Capture the Castle
- Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
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Publisher's summary
Exclusively from Audible
In this coming of age story, Dodie Smith introduces the visionary and eccentric character of seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. The youngest daughter in a family of impoverished artists, it is her imagination and writing that takes us away from the ramshackle old English castle where they live, and towards an intriguing tale of husband-hunting and light-hearted sibling rivalry.With the arrival of their new landlords, the impossibly handsome and wealthy American brothers, Neil and Simon Cotton, the Mortmains are roused from their stupor and moved to action. Despite developing feelings for the younger of the two brothers, Cassandra's beautiful sister, Rose, plots to marry the eldest heir in a desperate attempt to escape the poverty which surrounds her.
When Cassandra finds herself falling in love for the very first time with the same man as her sister, she explores her mixed emotions through her writing, making this a story which revels in irony and ambiguity.
A deceptively complex and intelligent story, I Capture the Castle is Smith's first published work and one which will undoubtedly and simultaneously make listeners tut, laugh and reminisce.
Narrator BiographyJenny Agutter is a celebrated English stage, film and TV actress who was first brought to the attention of British audiences as a child, starring in East of Sudan and The Railway Children. She made her Hollywood debut in the critically acclaimed film Walkabout, in 1971, followed by Logan's Run, An American Werewolf in London and Child's Play 2.
Her TV career includes appearances on Spooks, Call the Midwife and The Man in the Iron Mask. Alongside this, Jenny is also considered one of the best classical actors of her generation and has performed with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre. She is an Emmy and BAFTA award winner and was awarded an OBE on the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for charitable services.
Jenny's other Audible audiobook narrations include Jane Austen's Emma, Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and E. Nesbit's The Railway Children.
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Vivacious, young Hester Christie tries to run her home like clockwork, as would befit the wife of British Army officer, Tim Christie. However hard Mrs Tim strives for seamless living amidst the other army wives, she is always moving flat-out to remember groceries, rule lively children, side-step village gossip and placate her husband with bacon, eggs, toast and marmalade. Left alone for months at a time whilst her husband is with his regiment, Mrs Tim resolves to keep a diary of events large and small in her family life.
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Life as a military wife
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The Sea, the Sea
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Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor, both professionally and personally, and amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years.
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Murdoch Amazes
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The Brimstone Wedding
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Unlike the other residents of Middleton Hall, Stella is elegant, smart and in control. Only Jenny, her care assistant, knows that she harbours a painful secret, and only she can prevent Stella from carrying it to the grave. As the women talk, Jenny pieces together the answers to many questions that arise: Why has she kept possession of a house that her family don’t know about? What happened there that holds the key to a distant tragedy?
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Amazing reader elevates book to a higher level
- By Doggy Bird on 10-04-14
By: Barbara Vine
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A Charmed Life
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- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
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Performance
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Story
Cat doesn't mind living in the shadow of his sister, Gwendolen, the most promising young witch ever seen on Coven Street. But trouble starts brewing the moment the two orphans are summoned to live in Chrestomanci Castle. Frustrated that the witches of the castle refuse to acknowledge her talents, Gwendolen conjures up a scheme that could throw whole worlds out of whack.
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A Delightful Read!
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Bless This House
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Overall
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Story
The house was built in the Old Queen's time: built for an Elizabethan pirate who was knighted for the plunder he brought home. It survived many eras, many reigns: it saw the passing of Cromwell and the Civil War. It became rich with an Indian Nabob and poor with a 20th century innkeeper. It saw wars, and lovers, and death. Children were born there, both heirs and bastards. It had ghosts and legends and a history that grew stranger with every generation.
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Bless This House - my take
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High Rising
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Successful lady novelist Laura Morland and her boisterous young son, Tony, set off to spend Christmas at her country home in the sleepy surrounds of High Rising. But Laura's wealthy friend and neighbor, George Knox, has taken on a scheming secretary whose designs on marriage to her employer threaten the delicate social fabric of the village.
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Beginning of a journey
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The Good Apprentice
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Stuart Cuno has decided to become good. Not believing in God, he invents his own methods, which include celibacy, chastity, and the abandonment of a promising academic career. Interfering friends and relations question his sincerity, his sanity, and his motives.
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A Squabble of Smartypants
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A Handful of Dust
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Story
Evelyn Waugh's 1934 novel is a bitingly funny vision of aristocratic decadence in England between the wars. It tells the story of Tony Last, who, to the irritation of his wife, is inordinately obsessed with his Victorian Gothic country house and life. When Lady Brenda Last embarks on an affair with the worthless John Beaver out of boredom with her husband, she sets in motion a sequence of tragicomic disasters that reveal Waugh at his most scathing.
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Slow Start then Subtle
- By Michael on 05-16-15
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The Haunting of Hill House
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Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House.
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Well written horror tale
- By C K White on 02-11-14
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The Book of Ebenezer le Page
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- Narrated by: Roy Dotrice
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ebenezer Le Page, cantankerous, opinionated and charming, is one of the most compelling literary creations of the late 20th century. Eighty years old, Ebenezer has lived his whole life on the Channel Island of Guernsey, a stony speck of a place caught between England and France yet a world away from either. Ebenezer himself is fiercely independent, but as he reaches the end of his life he is determined to tell his own story and the story of those he has known.
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I miss Ebenezer
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Cold Hand in Mine
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Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full. The listener is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ("Pages from a Young Girl's Journal") but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.
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Aickman is unique
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The Forsyte Chronicles, Vol. 2
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John Galsworthy's magnificent trilogy of power and passion chronicles the wealthy Forsyte family. The complete Chronicles are divided into three volumes, containing nine books and four interludes in total. Volume 2, A Modern Comedy, focuses on Soames's vivacious daughter, Fleur. Soames tries constantly to protect her but is baffled by the carefree attitudes in post-war London. Fleur and her husband Michael Mont host society gatherings, but her previous affair with Jon Forsyte leaves embers of a passion that are ready to ignite - with dreadful consequences.
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Very worthwhile
- By Jonathan Kalkstein on 09-27-22
By: John Galsworthy
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What listeners say about I Capture the Castle
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Anonymous User
- 08-11-11
An English Lost Domain
Anglophiles around the world will be transported back to England in the 1930s in this delicious, bitter sweet story of an eccentric family living in a house built into an ancient castle. It is easy to forget that the diary entries of the main character, teenager Cassandra, are ficticious. Dodie Smith writes such achingly beautiful observations of the countryside in all seasons equally well as she describes the endearing faults of her main characters. The Mortmain's lives are suspended in time for a while until a pair of American brothers arrive to claim their inheritance and the hearts of Cassandra and her sister Rose. Change is also in the air for their author father and "son of the house" Stephen. The story is not wound up too tightly at the end and we are left room to imagine where war, fortune and love will lead the characters. Jenny Agutter's reading beautifully captures the passion and "wiser than her years" poise of Cassandra.
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28 people found this helpful
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- David P
- 10-24-15
Charm, Charm, Charm
This book was recommended by a friend, but I started it reluctantly. I usually don't read books with teenage narrators. On top of that, a diary format can feel artificial. And it's true, sections of the novel feel episodic. But after about half an hour of listening, I was completely hooked. The main character is so charming, so endearing, so smart and funny, I fell in love. This eccentric family and their nutty house, their Austen-like neighbors, even their pets became utterly real to me. Dodie Smith makes surprising choices throughout and writes descriptive passages of great beauty,
The performance by Jenny Agutter is flawless. She makes every character distinct and vivid. There's not a false note.
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6 people found this helpful
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- FarrahWun
- 10-03-15
A thoroughly bohemian romance
I read this for book club without knowing anything about it. I was determined not to look ahead or be tempted to know anything in advance & I must admit, the story is beautiful in the classic sense of Romanticism. The tortured artist, desperation of poverty, the worship of art & creation, innocence, and unrequited love. The examination of love- what it means, the many forms it takes, and its elusiveness are drawn out in the various characters storylines from the perspective of a young girl, just beginning to understand the sacrifice and pains of love- in family, friendships, and marriage. It's surprisingly well crafted and beautifully woven without drowning in sentimentality or stooping. The surprises are natural and unpredictable and startlingly realistic. Strongly recommend.
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- GBBMOA
- 11-30-14
Bought on sale, no regrets.
What did you love best about I Capture the Castle?
A nice escape from the crazy modern world we live in. Narration was speedy and took a bit to get used to, then enjoyed how it kept the book moving at a good pace. Never got bored.
Was interesting comparing how lonely we sometimes feel surrounded by people...and then here is this girl...often alone in actuality or at least emotionally in an isolated castle...just living...writing...not sitting around wishing she had someone to chat with all day.
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- Nadia
- 01-31-15
Build-up for a disappointment
Disappointed by the ending. People are wrong to compare this to Jane Austen. Austen gave good people desired happy endings, and punished bad people.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-07-19
Relay well read but a very slow story
I liked the story and the characters very well but I found the middle part to dragg on for hours. For me this book was too long. But a good story with well rounded characters made it worth while in the end. But had I not needed to read this for my bookgroup Inprobably would have quit half way. So I’m happy I made it to the end.
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- Dorry Forrester
- 04-21-21
a lovely read
Captivating and warm, this title is everything I'd hoped for in a novel written in journal format. Dodie Smith's words are sentimental, endearing, and sweet. A story about a family leasing a castle, a love story, a capturing of life around the castle ruins, and an embrace of nature. I have read this four times now and will always return to Godsend Castle, Belmont Tower, and Scoatney Hall when I need a refreshing escape to England to breathe.
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- Sue
- 12-21-22
Loved!
Love, love, loved this book! Such a classic. Great story, humorous, witty and interesting. Hated for it to end!
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- Sabrina H
- 01-05-23
My absolute favorite Audiobook
I am not quite sure how I stumbled across this audiobook but it is one I have listened to several times. The story and narrator are brilliant.
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- Chris S
- 06-24-24
Excellent story
The characters development was intriguing and the plot was gripping. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
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