Our Fall 2023 session of the Literary Sewing Circle starts today!
I'm pleased to announce that our group read this time around is:
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
This is a classic of Canadian literature, published in 1926 by one of our best known authors, Lucy Maud Montgomery. It's one of her only books aimed specifically at an adult audience, and which is not set in PEI, but rather in the lovely Muskoka region of Ontario. It's a period piece this time around for the Literary Sewing Circle - I hope you will all enjoy this one as much I have many times over the years!
Summary:
At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent, and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.
About the Author:
Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables. She published 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays. Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success; the title character, orphan Anne Shirley, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following.[1] Most of the novels were set on Prince Edward Island, and those locations within Canada's smallest province became a literary landmark and popular tourist site.
She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge, Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.
(via Wikipedia/Goodreads)
This book is available for purchase in multiple formats.
You can find many formats at all of these locations:
Or, of course, check your local library!
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We are also fortunate to have a sponsor for this round of the Literary Sewing Circle!
Blue Calla patterns of Toronto will be offering a free pattern for our winner. Blue Calla is an Ontario based bag-making company with a name very similar to our title, so she's the perfect sponsor for this round :)
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How does the Literary Sewing Circle work? We read a book together, discuss it, and then make something inspired by our reading. As long as you can point out what inspired you from your reading, even if just a sentence, you can share your makes in our final roundup!
Anyone can join, and you can sew, knit, crochet, quilt or embroider - any textile art that you like doing - to participate. This is a reading/sewing circle, very low-key; no competitions here, just reading and sewing for fun. That said, we are fortunate to have a sponsors for this round! The free pattern prize will be drawn for from all participants who have linked up a project by the end of the roundup (Nov 30) and awarded by random draw.
There is no official sign-up to worry about; just start reading along if you wish, and leave your thoughts on the book or your project on any of the Literary Sewing Circle posts. We do have a dedicated book discussion post halfway through and again at the end, but leave your thoughts anytime. And you can follow along on Instagram too if you like: look for #LiterarySewingCircle and you'll find us.
And when the final post goes up, so does the project linkup -- you can leave a link to your finished project there, whether it is on your blog, a pattern site, or even Instagram. It's easy :)
So, join in, and share!
Literary Sewing Circle Schedule
Oct 6 - Announcement & Introduction
Oct 13 - Inspiration post
Oct 20 - Preliminary book talk
Oct 27 - Inspiration post
Nov 3 - Author feature
Nov 10 - Final Post: book discussion wrap up & posting of project linkup
We will have our project linkup live for two & a half weeks after the final post to allow you to finish up and post your projects. And also because November 30 was Montgomery's birthday so it feels suitable to end on that date!
The linkup will close on Nov 30 and the random prize will be drawn for at that time.
Hi Melanie,
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated by this choice - I had not realised the breadth of publications from L M Montgomery. A bonus is it is available at my library so I am able to start reading. I look forward to this book and to the inspiration and book talk conversations.
.... Sara
I'm so glad you can find it in your library! Yes, she wrote so much but most people are most familiar with Anne. I hope you'll enjoy this one :)
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