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The Blue Castle
Paperback
Publisher: Les Prairies Numeriques
Published: Mar 1 2026
Pages: 266
Weight: 0.79
Height: 0.60 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Blue Castle is a 1926 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables (1908).
The story is set during the early 1900s in the fictional town of Deerwood, located in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. Deerwood is based on Bala, Ontario, which Montgomery visited in 1922. Maps of the two towns show similarities.
This novel is considered one of L.M. Montgomery's few adult works of fiction, along with A Tangled Web, and is the only book she wrote that is entirely set outside of Prince Edward Island. It has grown in popularity since being republished in 1990. The book was adapted for the stage twice; in 1982 it was made into a successful Polish musical, and ten years later Canadian playwright Hank Stinson authored another version, The Blue Castle: A Musical Love Story.[1]
Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds, evidently used The Blue Castle as the basis of her novel The Ladies of Missalonghi-subconsciously, as she alleged-to the point of provoking accusations of plagiarism.[2]
Plot summary
Valancy is, at twenty-nine, the old maid of the Stirling clan, a family that has lived in the same region for over fifty years. As an only child, her life has been spent with her mother, aunt, and an extended family who actively discourage happiness and treat Valancy like a child. Her only respites come from daydreaming of her Blue Castle and the handsome men who would reside in it with her, along with reading the nature books of John Foster.
Valancy is shockingly diagnosed with a fatal heart ailment when she goes in for a checkup, a fact she keeps secret from all of her family, since she goes to a doctor that is not considered the 'right' one, because her family has a long-lived feud with his family....
Valancy then scandalizes the clan even more by moving out of her mother's house and taking a position as a housekeeper for her very ill childhood friend Cissy Gay and her father, who is a master carpenter and notorious town drunk named Roaring Abel. Cissy is dying of consumption, but is socially ostracized for having had a child out of wedlock. The child had died soon after being born, and Cissy wasted away from her sickness and the perpetual misery of losing her beloved baby. Cissy and Valancy share a room and renew their friendship. Valancy enjoys earning a salary and spending her money in ways her family would not approve of - such as purchasing a brightly-coloured, low-necked dress. But her real satisfaction comes from doing something worthwhile, and doing it well. She also meets and spends time with Barney Snaith, who is a good friend of both Abel and Cissy, but whom town gossips are convinced is a criminal in hiding, a horrible drunk like Roaring Abel, and/or the father of Cissy's illegitimate, now-deceased child.
Towards the end, Cissy confides in Valancy, telling her about the man she fell in love with but refused to marry because he no longer loved her. Her baby compensated for her heartache, but when the infant died she was devastated. Cissy passes away quietly and Valancy makes all the funeral arrangements, setting the house in order for Abel before leaving.
All this time, the Stirling prestige has suffered from Valancy's actions, her 'going into service' and associating with 'lowlifes; several unsuccessful attempts are made to have her come 'home.' Now they assume she will move back to live with her mother and aunt, who would magnanimously forgive her recent behaviour and gloss it over as an act of 'Christian charity'.
21 different editions
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The Short Stories of Lucy Maud Montgomery from 1902-1903: Early Short Fiction from the Author of Anne of Green Gables
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The Short Stories of Lucy Maud Montgomery from 1909-1922: Early Short Fiction from the Author of Anne of Green Gables
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The Short Stories of Lucy Maud Montgomery from 1907-1908: Early Short Fiction from the Author of Anne of Green Gables
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The Story Girl: A Classic Tale of Childhood, Friendship, and Imagination
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Anne of Avonlea: The Second Anne Shirley Novel of School, Friendship, and Avonlea Life
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The Blue Castle: A Romantic Classic of Courage, Freedom, and Self-Discovery
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