Six Degrees of Separation: from I Capture the Castle to Morality Play

On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate W. – Six Degrees of Separation

Somehow, I didn’t read I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith when I was younger.  And I’ve only just managed to source a copy, so I haven’t read it in time for Six Degrees.  This is how it’s introduced in Goodreads. ‘Through six turbulent months of 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least of which is that Cassandra is deeply, hopelessly, in love’.

That seemed to chime with a book I’ve just finished, Natasha Solomon’s Fair Rosaline.  This is a re-interpretation of the Romeo and Juliet story from the stand-point of bit- character Rosaline. To be fair, the story of bereavement, infatuation, love and bereavement again zipped along, but even as a page-turner, the narrative quickly became increasingly unbelievable. The characters were something of a caricature and the language veered unconvincingly between the Shakespearean and more modern idiom. If you want a reasonably page-turning beach read, this could be for you. I made the link to our starter book because Rosaline could well have lived in a castle (though she didn’t). And she falls hopelessly in love.

One thing you’ll notice if you read Fair Rosaline is that a fair few characters die.  So my next book is A Tomb with a View, by Peter Ross. This is an evocative, delightful and thought-provoking book. Yes, it’s about death and burial. But the variety of cemeteries, ways of remembering the dead and rituals Ross explores is astonishing. He’s clearly a sympathetic man to have around, and historians of ancient cemeteries, gravediggers, Muslim celebrants, natural burial enthusiasts, proponents of The Queerly Departed all willingly open up to him and bring their own special Final Resting Place to life. He visits graveyards, charnel chapels, cemeteries and so much more, animating them in a delightful tribute to these sites and those who work there and care for them. A book to read with – yes – enjoyment.

From death, to near death, in Maggie O’Farrell‘s I Am, I Am, I Am.  This is not an autobiography, but a non-chronological exploration of the author’s 17 (seventeen!) brushes with death, each episode named for a different part of the body. Attacks at machete-point, nearly-road-accidents, a dreadful experience of childbirth: all these and more are graphically and tenderly brought to life. Most affecting is the last quarter of the book, where she describes her own debilitating and long-running experience of the after-effects of a virus: and then her daughter’s even worse experiences. It’s compelling, sometimes angry, often visceral. She’s graphic at describing pain, fear, despair. Impossible not to experience at least some empathy for O’Farrell and her experiences. And yet she’s still here, bringing her experience to bear on her other work, in which she brings fictional characters and their dramas to life, informed no doubt by her own experiences.

And now from one non-chronological memoir to another: Sandi Toksvig’s Between the Stops. Marvellous. I was suspicious of a book written by something of a National Treasure. It would play to the gallery, surely? I was wrong. This is part memoir, part political polemic from someone whose views I’m happy to share, part social commentary and part Interesting Facts About London and the many places she’s called home. She uses the device of a journey on her most familiar bus route, the Number 12 from Dulwich to central London to gaze out of the window and use the memory triggers she finds as she observes the scene there, or among her fellow passengers to introduce the story of her life in America, Denmark and England. She’s witty, compassionate, angry and introspective by turn, and always amusing, often laugh-out-loud funny. I loved this book.

My next choice also uses London as a starting point.  The End We Start From by Megan Hunter is a powerfully unsettling novella. Here is a world descending into chaos and uncertainty just after the ‘author’ has given birth, in London. This is the story of a fleeing into the unknown from a city that’s no longer functioning following an unspecified apocalyptic disaster. Sparingly and beautifully written this is a short, eloquent and potent account of one woman’s fall-out from a not too unlikely future catastrophe. But one which does not finish on a note of despair, but of love.

Lastly, let’s go back to the 14th century: a time when England, like much of Europe, was turned upside-down socially by the predations of the Black Death, as well as by war, and it must have felt like the end of the world. Barry Unsworth’s Morality Play. Nicholas Barber, a young cleric who has abandoned his post and fallen in with a band of itinerant players tells his story. What brings this story its power is its power to immerse the reader in the life he’s – at least for the time being – chosen. This band of players live from hand to mouth, often cold, always dirty, always on the move and wondering where the next meal and billet is coming from. But they devise the idea of re-enacting a shocking murder that has just taken place in the community in which they find themselves, and discover that all is not as it seems. And add fear of the more powerful to their list of worries. An immersive tale, bringing the sights, smells, sounds, and mores of the 14th century to life. 

Well. We have wandered about a bit. Each book links, if tenuously, with the next: but there is no common thread running through these choices.

And next month, Kate invites us to read as our starter book Western Lane by Chetna Maroo. Are you going to join in the fun?

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

58 thoughts on “Six Degrees of Separation: from I Capture the Castle to Morality Play”

    1. It would be hard not to love the Toksvig. And apart from my first choice, I enjoyed all my choices this month. Each to her own and happy weekend to you too!

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      1. Absolutely! And, as an aside, if you’re ‘walking’ with me on Monday, can you publish before 8 please, then I can include you, because I won’t be posting the following week. If you schedule posts, no worries. I’ll include it the next time around. Just saying! Hugs!

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      2. Oh, thanks Jo. Nope I’m not going to get there in time, it’ll have to be next time round. So you’re gadding about again? Good lass!

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  3. I love how you’ve paired your choices with your excellent photography Margaret.
    I remember Morality Play being mentioned when it was made into the film The Reckoning, partly shot in a remote part of southern Spain.

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    1. Oh really? I didn’t know that. Although I’ve just now looked up the resume, and it seems only to use Unsworth’s book as a starting point for a very different take on the plot. Have you seen it?

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      1. I believe it was one of those films that might have gone straight to video, because I should have seen it, I remember talking to my Uncle about it (the Production Designer) but I don’t recall it all, so now I’m doubly intrigued to look out for the film and also the book!

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  4. The book is quite short and easy to demolish, and it looks as if the film might be available on YouTube. We’ll have to see what we can find.

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  5. Your chains are always interesting, always surprising. You’ve convinced me on A Tomb with a View – I find myself actually eager to try that one! Less so with the O’Farrell although it is probably very much my sort of thing. And Rosaline has now lost her spot on the tbr to be replaced by Sandi. (I rather liked I Capture the Castle; not sure that you will though.)

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    1. Ah. That’s a pity. I have a copy of I Capture the Castle to read on a long train journey soon. I didn’t really fancy Tomb with a View AT ALL, but it’s incredibly readable and interesting. My husband, who doesn’t necessarily share my tastes, loved it too.

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  6. Love your rationale for including Rosaline!
    The Maggie O’Farrell book is outstanding, mainly for the last sections about her daughter’s health problems. I didn’t quite buy the idea that some of the situations she described were near death but I forgave her just because of the power of those last chapters

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    1. I agree about the M O’F, but as a device for bringing a book together, it was unbeatable – apart from the even better idea of surveying your life from the top of a Number 12 London bus.

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  7. I also missed out on I Capture the Castle when I was younger, but read it a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I was disappointed in Fair Rosaline – I didn’t like the portrayal of Romeo and I agree about the language. Between the Stops and A Tomb with a View both sound interesting, though!

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  8. Well, you have wandered about- But in an interesting way. I’m drawn to A Tomb with a view, having visited Brookwood Cemetery yesterday.

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  9. Interesting selection as always 🙂 I loved I Capture the Castle as a teen and loved it again on re-reading a few years ago – I hope you like it too. The Sandi Toksvig sounds worth a try, more so than I thought when I spotted it a while back – added to my ‘to read’ list 🙂

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  14. I came late to I Capture the Castle too, but enjoyed it when I finally got round to reading it. There’s also quite a good film with Bill Nighy and Romola Garai. Peter Ross is a journalist in Glasgow so I’ve met him a couple of times. I loved Tomb with a View and have his next one, Steeple Chasing, on my teetering tbr file. Maggie O’Farrell is engaging, but I’ve never been drawn to this title. Makes me feel depressed. Of the ones I didn’t know of before, only Sandi Toksvig appeals. I love her humour.

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    1. And Sandi Toksvig can write too! I was surprised at how well. As can Peter Ross. How nice to have met him. I Capture the Castle is high on my TBR list now. The Maggie O’Farrell isn’t too distressing a read, despite the subject matter, but you can afford to give this one a miss, I’m sure.

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  15. What a great set of books Margaret … I particularly like the sound of Tomb with a view (what a great title) and the Maggie O’Farrell, though the other two memoirs also sound good.

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  16. Margaret, I was familiar with some of your books but have not read them. However, my husband read and enjoyed A Tomb with a View, and still has his copy, which I may read some day.

    I was not thrilled with I Capture the Castle, but I am glad I read it, and it wasn’t a waste of time.

    TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery

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    1. I do recommend you have a go at Tomb with a View, I think you’ll be sucked in quite quickly. I capture the Castle seems to be getting mixed recommendations. I’ll have to see!

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    1. Here we go again. I tried to comment o your post and ‘an error occurred’. As usual. Here is what I said: ‘I love Kate Grenville’s books, and this one was a winner, I thought. Shamefully, I’ve read none of the others, though the Eco has been on my Must Read list for ages. An engaging chain.’ Yes, you won’t be disappointed in the Toksvig, I think. By the way, though I rarely do so, I can comment on other Blogger posts . It’s just you …. * sigh*

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      1. Thanks for that. It’s such a nuisance. It must be a combination of your and my blog. As I mentioned before, I can only comment on your blog when I use Google Chrome. So stupid.

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  18. Bit late here, I’m afraid! The Toksvig and the Ross books are now on my tbr list. I can’t cope with gut-wrenching/sad/depressing books at present so I’ll have to forego the O’Farrell. I also was late to I Capture the Castle and enjoyed it though I’m not sure I’d read it again. Dodie Smith wrote it in the US feeling dreadfully homesick, and remembering the castle of friends she’d stayed in recently, she used that and the countryside around as the base for her book. I had never heard of I Capture until it was mentioned in an account I was reading about Wingfield Castle which is just a few miles from here.

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    1. The Toksvig and the Ross would be my top choices here – the Ross is surprisingly un-depressing: rather life-affirming in fact, and told in a positive way, appreciative of all the different stories he’s gathered. Interesting, your background to I Capture the Castle. Yes, best dodge the O’Farrell perhaps.

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  20. As usual, I haven’t read the starter book either. Nor any of your chain, Margaret.
    As always it hangs together so well. And the Sandi Toksvig is the big temptation for me – I would never even have considered it if you hadn’t recommended it 🙂

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