Publisher Description
All her life, Valancy Stirling lived on a quiet little street in an ugly little house and never dared to contradict her domineering mother and her unforgiving aunt. At twenty-nine, she's never been in love, and her only consolation has been the forbidden books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then, one day, she gets a letter and decides that things need to change. For the first time in her life, she does exactly what she wants to and says exactly what she feels. At first, her family thinks she's gone around the bend, but soon, she discovers a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.
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"As a lot of summaries would have already told you, Blue Castle was written by LM Montgomery (yes, the author of Anne of Green Gables). But this is geared more for adult audiences.
And I enjoyed it!
What if you find out you only had (at most) a year to live? And it made you look back and realize that you never really lived the 29 years of your life?
Well, Valancy Stirling pretty much decided to make definite life-changes that all the readers would definitely think is for the better.
She's spent her life under her snobby family's thumb. A family that looked down on her due to still being unwed at 29.
In an interesting twist of fate, the knowledge of her own impending demise actually freed Valancy from her fear and reticence to stand up for herself. She has nothing left to lose. And thus, she decides to live whatever that remains of her life to the fullest!
Listeners who love humor and romance should give The Blue Castle a try
There's a good reason why this title is rated highly on Goodreads!"
—
NMP (4 out of 5 stars)
About L. M. Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on November 30th, 1874, in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Although she lived during a time when few women received a higher education, Lucy attended Prince Wales College in Charlottestown, PEI, and then Dalhousie University in Halifax. At seventeen she went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to write for a newspaper, the Halifax Chronicle, and for its evening edition, the Echo. But Lucy returned to live with her grandmother in Cavendish, PEI, where she taught and contributed stories to magazines. It was this experience, along with the lives of her farmer and fisherfolk neighbors, that came alive when she wrote her Anne books, beginning with Anne of Green Gables (1908). Anne of Green Gables brought her overnight success and international recognition. It was followed by eight other books about Anne and Avonlea, as well as a number of other delightful novels, including her Emily series, which began in 1923 with Emily of New Moon. But it is her delightful heroine Anne Shirley, praised by Mark Twain as “the most moving and delightful child of fiction since the immortal Alice,” who remains a popular favorite throughout the world. She and her husband, the Rev. Ewen MacDonald, eventually moved to Ontario. Lucy Montgomery died in Toronto in 1942.
About Barbara Barnes
Jilly Bond has worked extensively in theater and radio for many years. Her stage credits include Miranda in The Tempest, Fiona in When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, and Anita in A Small Family Business. She is regularly heard in dramas for Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. She has won two AudioFile Earphones Awards for her audiobook narration.