Surely it's a miracle? I am actually posting an event only one day after it occurred, this may be unprecedented in the history of Amelie's House. Take full advantage of it because surely it will not happen again this year!
Anyway, this month we read 'I Capture The Castle' by Dodie Smith, who is also the author of 101 Dalmations. I have never read this book before, although quite a few of the group had read it in their youth.
The novel is in the form of a diary, written by Cassandra, about her transition from child to adult. She attempts to 'capture' on her paper the characters in her life. Her father is an eccentric writer who has only ever managed to write one book and can't seem to find another one in him. His family have long since used up the earnings from his book and are now penniless. Cassandra has an older sister who is very beautiful and determined to get herself out of poverty by marrying the first rich man she can lay her hands on. Fortunately for her, one comes along just at the right time.
We all really, really enjoyed this book, it had the right mixture of naivety and charm one would expect of a girl the age of Cassandra, but also a lot of humor and some almost risque moments. The girl's step mother who is only twenty-nine herself is somewhat bohemian, and loves to commune with nature, so she romps around the countryside naked, in the night.
I would recommend it to any one who is looking for a cracking good read. We gave it an average of nine.
There are quite a lot of different foods mentioned in the book. I nearly made oat biscuits, as the family seem to live of these, and ham. There is also a lovely chapter describing a midsummer ritual involving a special cake. But in the end I plumped for 'squashed fly' biscuits (Garibaldis). They were so simple to make and tasted delicious, I used this recipe, but I doubled it. I had left a bowl with five in for Mr LD, they were all gone by the time I got home.
xxx
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