I Capture the Castle

Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world

'I write this sitting in the kitchen sink...'

This is the story of Cassandra, precocious and charming, who begins a journal detailing her life with her bohemian family in a crumbling old castle. On the cusp of adulthood, Cassandra meets the family's growing challenges of poverty and decay with indefatigable humour and insight.

However, her life is turned upside down when the American heirs to the castle arrive and Cassandra finds herself falling in love. Both a gorgeous study of 1930s England and a sharp exposition of what it's like to be teenage girl, I Capture The Castle is a novel layered with eccentricity and nostalgia.

Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.

About the Author

Dorothy Gladys 'Dodie' Smith was born in 1896 in Lancashire and she was one of the most successful female dramatists of her generation. Her first novel, I Capture the Castle, was written when she lived in America during the 1940's and marked her crossover debut from playwright to novelist. The novel became an immediate success and was produced as a play in 1954. She has written numerous other novels but is best known today for The Hundred and One Dalmatians, a story for younger readers. The Hundred and One Dalmatians became the basis of two Disney Films.