8Valancy Stirling is unmarried at 29. Frustrated by her loveless state and stifled by her moralistic family, for years she has been escaping into an imaginary life in her Blue Castle in Spain. Then unexpected news shocks her into asserting her independence and striking out against society's conventions. Her old fantasies seem irrelevant now - but dreams of the Blue Castle are not forgotten as she refocuses her energies on living her life on her own terms. Lucy Maud Montgomery has created a wonderfully sympathetic heroine in Valancy, engaging the reader fully in her trials and triumphs. A great love of the Canadian wilderness comes pouring out in beautifully evocative prose accompanied with sharp observation of the personalities and attitudes of her characters and the society they inhabit.