Classics Out Loud

Even before Valancy receives a letter from Dr Trent in Montreal about her diagnosis, she commits her first act of rebellion, decimating a rose bush that she is frustrated with since it never blooms. Fortuitously, her mother is furious that she wasn't consulted before the hacking commenced, and will now not talk to Valancy for several days.

When the news arrives that Valancy only has a year to live, this isolation allows her to keep it entirely to herself. Dazed and bewildered, angry that she will die before she has ever really lived, Valancy begins to process the news and what it means for her life.

The visit to Dr Trent is unusual - after some discussion he received a telephone call and rushes out, leaving Valancy alone in his office. She's without a diagnosis, but as Dr Trent's son has been in an automobile accident in Montreal, she feels a little less foolish. Still, she's without any real information on her condition which is disheartening after such a fraught adventure.

She bumps into Barny Snaith on the way home, fixing his car on the side of the road. He has long been considered a villain by just about everyone, but he seemed, well, happy - and after all her good behaviour, Valancy was not. So where did that get her?

Back home, she ends her day with household chores amid constant prickly comments from her family, and goes to bed in tears.

A visit to Uncle Benjamin's grocery store is in order, it would be unacceptable to get tea from anywhere else. Much as his jokes prod Valancy painfully, she buys her tea and  realises his jokes are painful primarily because that are in fact true - she is getting old, she's not married, and feels unloved and unwanted.
 
Resolving to be honest with herself from now on, she passed by her church minister, Rev. Dr. Stalling, and feels that he must be listening to her thoughts. She delights in her new John Foster book, and by chance her eyes fall on a paragraph on overcoming fear - and decides in that moment to visit Dr Trent after all.

Valancy laments the fact that some girls seemed to have everything, and others, nothing. She manages to exit the house even though her mother and cousin try hard to have her nearly wrapped in cotton-wool before leaving.

We learn more how Valancy interacts with her family.  She his piecing a quilt and goes to her room to get a different thimble, and we get glimpse into her beloved John Foster book when she opens a page at random.
 
The rain has stopped, so she tries to engineer a trip uptown to get a new book. We know her plan is actually to go see Dr Trent. Eventually, her mother relents and her adventure begins.

Valancy drags herself out of bed on this dreary, cold, wet May morning. She wakes at 7:30, and breakfast is at 8:00am. Like every other day, she works her way through her morning routine. 

She looks at herself in the mirror and feels that there was not a gleam of beauty anywhere—"exactly like my life", she says to herself.  From the plain view out her window to the clothes she wears, Montgomery paints a picture as bland as can be. We know, however, that these descriptions are setting us up for a day that will change her life completely.

We are delighted to tackle L.M. Montgomery's classic tale, one of her few adult books. Published in 1926, we are pleased to present The Blue Castle.

Best known for Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery sets the scene in chapter one of our protagonist Valency. Considered an old maid at nearly 29 and unwed, her life is dull and uneventful, living with her mother and cousin who direct her every move. In order to cope with this existence, in her free moments she retreats in her mind to a fantasy castle, where she is loved and wanted.

Today is Valancy's birthday.  If the weather had been fine, she would have gone to Aunt Wellington's annual picnic, which is held on the same day as Valancy's birthday each year. But today was about to be a day that changes herlife entirely. The weather was rainy and with the picnic cancelled, Valancy decides to go to the doctor to see about her recent heart palpitations. Little to we know, that this small decision will have huge implications.

The Blue Castle is a story about mortality,  the impermanence of life, and ultimately, overcoming fear. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed recording it for you.

But what about the remaining Lost Boys? Will they find a home among the Darlings? And will Peter come back to request spring cleaning from Wendy? Since he is so prone to forgetting, will he remember her? We find out as Wendy herself grows up and has a child of her own.
 
In the conclusion of our adventures, Barrie wraps up our story of youth  by opening  the prospect of Neverland to all children. Peter's forgetfulness foreshadows the fleeting  nature of the complete abandonment to imagination that children have, and in this final chapter we see the handing of this talent to the next generation.
 
Classics Out Loud Podcast produce this recording with permission, in the UK, of Great Ormand Street Hospital Charity. If you have enjoyed the story, we encourage you to donate to the hospital who do wonderful work for children.

Back at number 14, Mr Darling is asleep in his kennel - his self-imposed punishment for not having kept Nana tied up and thereby losing the children. In fact, he spends all his time in the kennel, being taken in it to and from work - and become a minor celebrity as a result. This particular evening, he asks Mrs Darling to play him to sleep on the nursery piano, which she does so.
 
It is just as this moment that the children return, and indeed the window is open despite Peter's initial plan of preventing the children from returning. The children decide to simply slip into their beds as if they had never been away, and Mrs Darling doesn't quite believe what her eyes are telling her. But finally, we see the tearful reunion.

In chapter 15 we reach the climax of our story. The boys and Wendy are tied up aboard the pirate ship, but Peter is planning a rescue. Still making a crocodile-like ticking sound, he sneaks about and begins to take the pirate crew one by one. 
 
Peter and the pirate captain have their final confrontation. Will this be Hook's final battle?