The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
At the start of May, I reread The Blue Castle* by L. M. Montgomery. I hadn’t returned to this lesser-known work of Montgomery’s for years, and what a pleasure it was to reacquaint myself with its marvellous heroine, Valancy Stirling. The Blue Castle was originally published in 1926, when Montgomery was well-established as the author of Anne of Green Gables and was at the height of her writing powers (the Emily trilogy was published from 1923-1927). The Blue Castle differs from much of Montgomery’s other work, as it is geared towards an adult audience, rather than YA readers, with its older heroine.
The Blue Castle begins on Valancy Stirling’s 29th birthday, and Valancy’s only pleasure in the day is that the unseasonably cold, rainy weather means her family’s annual May picnic, celebrating the 30th engagement anniversary of her Aunt and Uncle Wellington, will be cancelled. It is typical in the Stirling clan that Valancy’s birthday is a mere sideline, and that the day of her birth is traditionally given over to celebrating members of her extended family. The reader’s sympathy readily extends to Valancy, who has been labelled an unmarriageable ‘old-maid’ by her family and is constantly needled over her plain looks and lack of social success. Valancy is only too miserably aware of her own shortcomings and lack of prospects; she dreams of having her own husband, household and child but grimly acknowledges these desires are unlikely to be fulfilled. Increasingly, Valancy takes refuge from her domineering mother and dull, pointless days in the ‘Blue Castle’ of her imagination. Valancy’s vivid imaginings allow her a means of escape and fantasy fulfilment: in her Blue Castle, she is a beautiful princess, courted by numerous eligible men and able to do exactly as she pleases.
‘She did not feel anything except a boundless surprise and incredulity…that she, Valancy Stirling, who had never lived, was about to die.’
On her birthday morning, however, Valancy is unable to lose herself in her daydreams. Reality must be faced, and she decides to seize a little independence by making her own plans for the day: she will go to the library to borrow a new book by her favourite nature writer, and she will make a secret trip to Dr. Trent, as pains in her chest have been troubling her for some time. Her visitation with the doctor is interrupted before he can give Valancy his verdict, and Valancy is stunned to receive a letter from him later, breaking the news that her heart condition is serious, and that she is likely to die within a year. Valancy is appalled at the realisation that she has been alive for twenty-nine years without experiencing hardly anything of what life has to offer. She vows to live fearlessly in the months that remain to her and to squeeze as much enjoyment as she can from the small town of Deerwood (based on Bala, Ontario).
One of the greatest joys in reading The Blue Castle is witnessing Valancy’s transformation from a timid, dispirited girl, cowed by her relations and envious of her classically beautiful, engaged cousin Olive, to a self-assured, witty and courageous woman, who is able to appreciate her own virtues and is determined to live life on her own terms. Valancy moves out of her family home to care for a childhood friend, Cissy Gay, who is dying of consumption, but who has been shunned by Deerwood society for having borne an illegitimate child and for having a father (nicknamed ‘Roaring Abel’) who is all too fond of the bottle. Whilst earning her living as caretaker to Cissy, Valancy meets the mysterious Barney Snaith, another outcast from Deerwood society, who lives on a private island in a tiny house surrounded by pine trees, which Valancy recognises as the real life ‘blue castle’ of her daydreams. Valancy falls head over heels in love with Barney and once again seizes the reins of her life by proposing to him (a brilliant scene in the book!). Although convinced Barney doesn’t love her, Valancy feels he will accept her as a companionable friend, allowing her to live the last few months of her life in freedom from her family. As the two draw closer together, however, Valancy is forced to consider the verdict cast by Dr. Trent, and wonders whether she has made a terrible mistake.
If you’re a fan of the Anne and Emily books by L. M. Montgomery, then do seek out a copy of The Blue Castle - it is so worth reading! Although the plot twists are predictable, and there is more than a little of the fairytale element to the story, Valancy Stirling is an original and hugely likeable heroine, who feels surprisingly fresh even to a modern reader. I relished Valancy’s ugly duckling to swan transformation, when she shingles her hair (shocking!), buys some flattering new dresses and glows with happiness from the inside out. L. M. Montgomery is always particularly strong in describing clothes and a yearning for pretty things (who can forget Anne’s puffed sleeves!), and The Blue Castle shows her at her best in conjuring her heroine’s new wardrobe.
‘Valancy had taken some of her two hundred dollars out of the bank and spent it on pretty clothes. She had a little smoke-blue chiffon which she always put on when they spent the evenings at home — smoke-blue with touches of silver about it. It was after she began wearing it that Barney began calling her Moonlight.’
Fans of cosy domesticity will especially enjoy the homemaking scenes on Barney’s island, where Valancy delights in running her own home and establishes a calm, contented ritual to their days. Many of these days are spent enjoying the beautiful natural world that surrounds them: Barney and Valancy gather wild strawberries, cook freshly caught trout out of doors (a complete contrast to the Stirlings’ stuffy dinner parties!), ramble through forests, skate across the lake in the winter and canoe in the summer.
‘There was a certain sunlit dell…Here they found berries that might have graced the banquets of Lucullus, great ambrosial sweetnesses hanging like rubies to long, rosy stalks. They lifted them by the stalk and ate them from it, uncrushed and virgin, tasting each berry by itself with all its wild fragrance ensphered therein. When Valancy carried any of these berries home that elusive essence escaped and they became nothing more than the common berries of the marketplace — very kitchenly good indeed, but not as they would have been, eaten in their birch dell until her fingers were stained as pink as Aurora’s eyelids.’
Women finding freedom and discovering their sense of self by moving to the countryside is a theme that keeps cropping up in books I’m reading at the moment. Montgomery is a beautiful nature writer, and it’s interesting that she makes Valancy a lover of nature books. Her initial desire for freedom from the Stirling home is fanned by the books she reads by the celebrated writer John Foster, and his descriptions of woods stirs in Valancy a yearning for escape from her stifled life spent largely indoors, piercing together endless quilts. With Barney, she becomes a great walker, spending hours outside, and she sets up their dinner table on the small outdoor veranda, where they can admire the view as they enjoy their simple meals.
The Blue Castle had me laughing out loud (the strait-laced Stirling clan’s reactions to Valancy’s transformation are priceless!), but also wiping away a tear when Valancy finally gets her heart’s desire. This story leaves you examining your own life and pondering its key questions: if you spent a year living in pursuit of what stirs you, of what makes you feel happy and truly alive, regardless of the consequences, what would that year look like? What would you change, and what steps into the unknown would you take? Valancy Stirling is a wonderful reminder to live fearlessly, whatever life throws at you.
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