Welcome to the Blue Castle
100 years ago, Lucy Maud Montgomery gave us a story about courage, freedom, and finding our own sanctuaries. Tonight we escape the “Sterling family gloom” to celebrate a century of this book. Thank you for being part of our own little party. Let’s drink, laugh, and speak our minds!
An incredibly good time was had by all at our 100 Years of The Blue Castle Anniversary Party. We began our evening with a toast, drinking our Blue Castle Tea, a new tea this year by NovelTea in Truro. Described as a “dreamy blueberry vanilla cream black tea”, everyone agreed that it was delicious, even those who generally do not like black tea.
“To 100 years of The Blue Castle! May we all have a little bit of Valancy’s Spark, a lot of Barney’s Loyalty, and the absolute freedom to live life on our own terms. To Lucy Maud Montgomery, and to many more years of rereading our favourite story together. Cheers!”
We had 9 guests attend our party, two of whom had never read The Blue Castle, and by the end of the night, they were both anticipating the read. Of the other 7, we asked when they had first read the book, how many times, and if they remember where they were. We had a couple of people who had read it for the first time this year as part of local author Sarah Emsley’s summer challenge, and were instant Blue Castle lovers. The rest had read it several times, at different points in their lives. One even won her copy in a writing contest several years ago with the library with a piece she wrote about Halifax’s sister city in Japan, Hakodate. A couple of years ago, she was fortunate to visit Hakodate and brought her well-read, held-together- with-a-ribbon copy of The Blue Castle with her.
Linda Lafler read her contribution that she submitted to Sarah Emsley’s The Blue Castle blog called: “Happily Ever After or, Romance Tropes of The Blue Castle, to be enjoyed loud and fast, just like a ride in Lady Jane,” reprinted with permission and read like a rap song.
Bad boy hero, friend of Abel, lives in a castle with one blue gable!
Clean and wholesome (’cept for Cissy). Valancy’s a sick girl, and Mother is prissy.
Up-back danger to forced proximity: she falls first, and boom! She’s pretty.
Fake dating, but make it extra phony? Dial it up to instant matrimony.
Two Ugly Ducklings glow up to swans; the Stirlings say it’s all a big con.
I’ve “sworn off women,” that’s what he said; come to the cottage, it only has one bed.
Swifty-coded Love Story but Taylor fixed the ending: stories where the girl dies need amending!
Black Cat/Golden Retriever. But who is who, oh clever reader?
Lake Muskoka setting for a second chance, hot and steamy summer romance?
Whoops! My mistake! That’s Carley Fortune’s Meet Me at the Lake.
Cinderella’s slipper got caught in the tracks; now they’re facing some hard new facts.
Hidden identities till a girl’s head is spinnin’; Barney/Bernard, you’d better start ’splainin’.
Third act breakup, such a scam; we’ll give Maud a break ’cause she’s not on Bookstagram.
Can you clarify who’s high class/low class? In Deerwood, billionaires always get a free pass.
Quiet Girl Snaps and Chooses Happiness.- By Linda Lafler
We took several pictures with a backdrop containing several of the many covers that The Blue Castle has been published with in the last century. We ate a delicious and beautifully decorated Blue Castle cake, and relived our favourite quotes and scenes from the story. We did a short quiz, testing our memory of the book, and overall, had a very enjoyable evening.
“The greatest happiness […] is to sneeze when you want to.”
― L.M. Montgomery, The Blue Castle
“There’s nothing the matter with my mind. Though you all think I’ve suddenly gone crazy. Well, I haven’t. I’ve simply grown tired of living to please other people and have decided to please myself” ― Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Blue Castle