The Blue Castle: The Original Manuscript

The Blue Castle: The Original Manuscript by L.M. Montgomery and edited and annotated by Carolyn Strom Collins was released by Nimbus Publishing in May 2024. L.M. Montgomery published The Blue Castle in 1926, and it was her first novel written for adults.

In The Blue Castle: The Original Manuscript, Carolyn Strom Collins presents a full transcription of L.M. Montgomery's handwritten text of the novel. The book includes the edits and notes L.M. Montgomery made while composing the story, providing insight into her creative process. As one example, L.M. Montgomery initially named the protagonist Miranda before deciding to name her Valancy. In addition, the book displays images of select pages from Montgomery's original handwritten manuscript.


Here is the description of the book from Nimbus Publishing:

Published for the first time ever, the first draft of The Blue Castle exactly as L. M. Montgomery originally wrote it, with critical context from a leading Montgomery scholar.

Available for the first time ever, the original draft of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s The Blue Castle is presented with scribbled notes, character name changes, additions and deletions, and other pre-publication changes, offering fascinating new insight into the writing process of one of Canada’s most beloved writers.

First published in 1926, The Blue Castle is one of Montgomery’s few adult novels—and the only one set entirely outside of the author’s home province of Prince Edward Island. Montgomery scholar Carolyn Strom Collins provides a transcription of the text and notes from Montgomery’s handwritten manuscript, showing how they were integrated to form the published novel. (Major changes include changing the inspiring main character’s name from Miranda to Valancy, and Barney’s beloved cat from Jigglesqueak to Banjo.)

Edited with a keen eye to detail and deep respect for the writer’s creative process, and featuring high-quality photographs of select pages of the original manuscript, The Blue Castle: The Original Manuscript is a necessary addition to any Montgomery lover’s collection.

Image credit:
Book cover of The Blue Castle: The Original Manuscript.

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Created September 19, 2024.
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I’m sick of the fragrance of dead things.

"I’m sick of the fragrance of dead things."
-L.M. Montgomery
Valancy Stirling in The Blue Castle

Read more quotes by L.M. Montgomery.

Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created May 31, 2024.
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The Blue Castle Graphic Novel

 

The Blue Castle is one of my favorite stories by L.M. Montgomery. I wanted to share an in-progress graphic novel adaptation of The Blue Castle by Maaike Bouhuyzen-Wenger. Maaike is a Canadian artist who is based in Toronto, and her specialties include printmaking and pen & ink drawing. She began drawing and designing her graphic novel in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the introduction to her project on Tumblr, Maaike writes that she thought The Blue Castle seemed "to be a good choice for my first graphic novel project – an opportunity to practice art work and learn from mistakes without the pressure of writing my own story and characters." She has currently concluded Part 2 of the story.

I just began exploring this adaptation, and I think the novel is a beautiful choice for her work. I'm excited to view both Valancy's personal growth and Maaike's artistic growth as the project continues.


External Links:
The Blue Castle Graphic Novel by Maaike Bouhuyzen-Wenger adapted from the novel by L.M. Montgomery
Maaike Bouhuyzen-Wenger's Website

Image Credit:
Page from The Blue Castle Graphic Novel by Maaike Bouhuyzen-Wenger adapted from the novel by L.M. Montgomery.

Created May 29, 2024.
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November—with uncanny witchery

"November—with uncanny witchery in its changed trees. With murky red sunsets flaming in smoky crimson behind the westering hills. With dear days when the austere woods were beautiful and gracious in a dignified serenity of folded hands and closed eyes—days full of a fine, pale sunshine that sifted through the late, leafless gold of the juniper-trees and glimmered among the grey beeches, lighting up evergreen banks of moss and washing the colonnades of the pines."
-L.M. Montgomery
The Blue Castle

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Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created November 24, 2023. Last updated April 19, 2024.
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Some things come by lightning flashes.

"Some things dawn on you slowly. Some things come by lightning flashes."
-L.M. Montgomery
The Blue Castle

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Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created October 19, 2022. Last updated April 19, 2024.
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Upcoming Film Adaptation of The Blue Castle

Cinegryphon Entertainment is producing a feature film adaptation of The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery according to an exclusive report in The Hollywood Reporter. Cinegryphon is an independent entertainment company specializing in film and television production that was founded in 2021 by Scott Aharoni, Mustafa Kaymak, and Sinan Eczacibasi.

Scott Aharoni described the story, saying:

"Valancy’s inspiring story is a beautiful reminder of how there is no such thing as wasted time — that no matter how ‘old’ or ‘late’ we may be, we can always start taking ownership of our own lives and live the one we’ve always desired or dreamed of having."

Personally, I’m really fond of Valancy and The Blue Castle, so I’m looking forward to this production. I'm curious to see who will play Valancy.

Created June 2, 2022.
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If it had not rained on a certain May morning...

"If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling’s whole life would have been entirely different."
-L.M. Montgomery
The Blue Castle

Read more quotes by L.M. Montgomery.

Image credit:
Illustration of a woman with an umbrella adapted from a United States Rubber Company advertisement in The Ladies' Home Journal (January 1921). Public Domain.

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Created May 16, 2021. Last updated May 16, 2024.
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After Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery's Letters to Ephraim Weber, 1916-1941

After Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery's Letters to Ephraim Weber, 1916-1941 edited by Hildi Froese Tiessen and Paul Gerard Tiessen was published by the University of Toronto Press in June 2006. The book is a collection of letters from L.M. Montgomery to Ephraim Weber, a Mennonite farmer living in Alberta, Canada. The pair corresponded with one another for nearly forty years.

Montgomery took great pleasure in receiving Weber's thoughtful and intellectually stimulating letters. Both Montgomery and Weber had literary aspirations, and they wrote to one another about literature and writing, world events and politics, and their daily lives. In appreciation of their close and meaningful friendship, L.M. Montgomery dedicated her novel The Blue Castle to "Mr. Ephraim Weber, M.A. who understands the architecture of blue castles."

In 1960, early letters from L.M. Montgomery to Ephraim Weber were published as The Green Gables Letters: From L.M. Montgomery to Ephraim Weber, 1905-1909 in a book edited by Wilfrid Eggleston. After Green Gables is a collection of Montgomery's later letters to Weber from 1916-1941 over a period spanning 25 years.

Here is the description of the book from University of Toronto Press:

Ephraim Weber (1870-1956) was a struggling young writer when he began corresponding with L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942) in 1902, six years before she published her first novel. Weber's initial letter was that of an admirer. Montgomery responded warmly, and the two quickly began a correspondence that became an intellectual mainstay for both of them over the following forty years. After Green Gables is a fascinating collection of letters sent by Montgomery to Weber between 1916 and 1941. This was the period of Montgomery's greatest literary success, but privately she was deeply troubled by her unhappy marriage.

The letters, revealing an intense social and intellectual dynamic between Montgomery and Weber, cover, among other subjects, their strong differences of opinion on matters such as pacifism and war and their joint rejection of the effects of literary modernism. Drawing on Weber's voluminous correspondence with other Canadian figures —particularly journalist Wilfred Eggleston—editors Paul Tiessen and Hildi Froese Tiessen skilfully illuminate Weber's interaction with Montgomery, especially in matters concerning literature and culture, religion and politics, and education and entertainment. The editors provide various readings of Weber, based on his aspirations as a writer, his active participation in the Canadian culture of his day (including his friendships with hometown schoolmate William Lyon Mackenzie King and community leader Leslie Staebler), and his heritage as a Mennonite.

After Green Gables brings to life a distinctly Canadian literary and intellectual association of writers. Montgomery's letters to a man committed to writing and to the cultural development of Canada reveal her intellectual preoccupations and her personal hardships. This is an essential text for Montgomery fans and scholars as well as readers with an interest in the development of Canada's literary culture.

Reviews

"After Green Gables is an outstanding contribution to the field of Montgomery studies. Paul Tiessen and Hildi Froese Tiessen have undertaken the painstaking task of deciphering, transcribing, and annotating L.M. Montgomery’s letters to Ephraim Weber, which shed light into an intriguing range of topics of interest to both. This book is exciting, timely, and important." -Irene Gammel, Ryerson University

"As social history, this collection of Montgomery’s letters to Weber (his half of the correspondence has been lost) is invaluable...After Green Gables should be in every Canadian library, and in every personal or public collection of Montgomery resources."
-Virginia Gillham, Canadian Book Review Annual Online (full review)

Image credit:
Scan of my book cover of After Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery's Letters to Ephraim Weber, 1916-1941.

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Created July 28, 2006. Last updated October 21, 2024.
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The Blue Castle eTexts and Electronic Books

Where can I read The Blue Castle online?

Below are external links to read L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle online. You can also download the ebook as an epub file, plain text file, or book for your Kindle.

The Blue Castle
Text | HTML | EPUB | Kindle


Image credit:
The Blue Castle cover artwork by Elly MacKay from the 2019 Tundra Books edition of the novel.

Created January 26, 2003. Last updated September 13, 2022.
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Songs of the Island (2002)

Songs of the Island (2002) is a musical tribute to L.M. Montgomery by Hank Stinson. This musical revue premiered at the Charlottetown Festival in Prince Edward Island, Canada in the summer of 2002. Songs of the Island was developed by The Castle Company, a Prince Edward Island-based musical theatre company.

Hank Stinson wrote the full text and lyrics, with the exception of the quotes and excerpts from L.M. Montgomery’s novels Emily of New Moon, Rainbow Valley and The Blue Castle. The revue also quotes the lyrics for "Peace," which was written by L.M. Montgomery in the article “Prince Edward Island” for the book, The Spirit of Canada: Dominion and Provinces (1939). In addition, musical includes five excerpts from L.M. Montgomery’s autobiography The Alpine Path.

In the musical’s dialogue, the performers explain that they consider the best way to learn about Maud is by reading her letters, poems, short stories, and novels, and that, “The key to understanding Maud is though her characters.” They emphasize that there is more to L.M. Montgomery than Anne of Green Gables. Thus, the musical revue aimed to show additional facets of Montgomery’s character by focusing on songs and scenes from Stinson’s previous musicals on L.M. Montgomery’s works: Emily of New Moon, Rainbow Valley and The Blue Castle. The music for The Blue Castle was by Hank Stinson with additional music by Helen MacRae. The music for Emily of New Moon and Rainbow Valley was by Dean Burry. Interspersed between the songs, the performers discuss the similarities between L.M. Montgomery and her characters.


Image Credit:
Graphic by The World of Anne Shirley.

References:
The Castle Co. Webpage (archived).
Songs of the Island at The Castle Co. (archived).
Dean Burry's Official Website

Created August 15, 2002. Last updated June 18, 2024.
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The Blue Castle (1993)

The Blue Castle: A Musical Love Story (1993) is a musical by Hank Stinson adapted from the novel The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. Stinson composed the musical and it featured additional music by Helen MacRae. The musical was created for The Castle Company, a Prince Edward Island-based musical theatre company. In 1992, the musical won the Theatre Prince Edward Island New Voices Playwrighting Contest.

Following workshops at the Muskoka Festival, the first community production of The Blue Castle took place in Prince Edward Island in 1993. There was a larger community production in 1994 at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown. In 1995, the professional debut took place at the Oakville Summer Theatre in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

The Blue Castle is a two-act musical. There are two versions of the script for either a small or a large cast. The musical length runs for 1 hour and 20 minutes for the small cast version and 1 hour and 30 minutes for the large cast version.

The musical is described as follows:
“Based on the L.M. Montgomery novel, The Blue Castle tells the story of spinster Valancy Stirling's escape from her stultifying home life, her quest for identity, and her awakening as a woman. She is a true hero; a glowing example of courage and determination in the face of the unknown; ‘It's only when you realize that no one else is going to take care of you that you begin to take care of yourself.’”


Image Credit:
Adapted screencaptures from The Castle Co. webpage (archived).

Reference:
The Castle Co. webpage (archived).

Created August 15, 2002. Last updated June 17, 2024.
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The Blue Castle Word Search

Enjoy this word search with words from The Blue Castle. You can print the image below or download a PDF version of the word search.



Created May 17, 2000. Last updated October 27, 2022.
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