Keeping the Castle

Althea Crawley is 17 years old and she is the main support of her entire family and the only hope her and her family have to keep their castle for her younger brother, Alexander. The main idea in this book is marriage. Back then, marriage determined the rest of your life and most people married for money, it didn’t matter whether or not they were happy.  This shows a difference between what marriage meant back then and what marriage means now because you usually marry because you are in love with somebody, not just because you want their money.  In order to be able to keep the castle, she must soon marry someone rich. “No, our only hope was in marriage. Mine” (7). If Althea did not marry well, her family would lose the castle and there is no telling what would happen to them.

Unfortunately, although Althea is very beautiful, her strong opinions and inability to think before she speaks her opinion, caused her to lose a suitable suitor. “‘I love you too,’ I confessed. I averted my gaze and added privately, ‘You are so rich.’” (1). Althea ruined her chances with Mr. Godalming because she let it slip that she was only marrying him for his wealth. With the chances of marrying and earning great wealth now gone, the family continues to barely even be able to afford food, but they continue on, hoping for the best.

When the young, attractive, and rich Lord Boring comes to town with at least four other eligible suitors, the Crawleys start preparing for all of  the upcoming balls and hunts, hoping to find a young man of great wealth for Althea to marry, so that they can keep their castle for their beloved Alexander. This is another historical reference because it shows that they actually had balls with the main purpose of young suitors trying to find wives. It shows the urgency to get married while young and live a wealthy life.

Althea got the attention of many young men at the ball, including Lord Boring. At first, things seemed to be going really well with Althea and Boring and it is expected for him to propose at any time. But why is Lord Boring now spending so much time with Charity, Althea’s wealthy step-sister, and why does the unbearable Mr. Fredericks keep getting in the way and arguing with Althea?

Parts of Keeping the Castle are funny and yet some are sweet and romantic. One of the good things about the book is Althea’s thoughts. Sometimes she is very observant, especially when it comes to the roles women play and the unfair expectation of men towards women. An example of this is when she makes this observation about one of her suitors, “I keep forgetting how ridiculously sensitive and illogical men were. He assumed that his fortune would buy a beauty; I assumed my beauty would procure me a rich husband. It seemed much the same thing to me, but evidently what was permissible in a man was not in a woman.” (3). Though other times she could be greatly oblivious especially when it came down to what Mr. Fredericks and his feelings for her.

Throughout the book, Althea successfully took care of her house and family and was very loyal to her friends. Althea only wanted what was best for her friends, although sometimes she was a little selfish. She tried her hardest to make sure everybody in her life was happy, even if it meant that she wasn’t. In the end she marries the insufferable Mr. Fredericks which is very unexpected to her and her family.

Keeping the Castle was an interesting book, though the plot throughout the story was very predictable. It’s the same ending as most romance books where the woman doesn’t realize that her soon-to-be husband was right in front of her all along. Despite the predictable ending it was still very good and something you wouldn’t expect to happen at the beginning of the book.

Over all, I feel that Patrice Kindl did an excellent job writing this book. Though it was like all typical romance novels, it still kept me interested and wanting to read more. There were some funny moments throughout the book also some unexpected twists and it was very enjoyable to read.