I Capture the Castle was Dodie Smith's first novel, written during the Second World War when she and her husband Alec Beesley, a conscientious objector, moved from their native England to California.

Ten years before, widower James Mortmain took out a forty-year repairing lease on a dilapidated but beautiful castle, hoping it would inspire him and cure his writer's block.

His family consists of: As the novel opens, Rose and Cassandra learn that their new landlords are two rich and handsome young American brothers, who have arrived at nearby Scoatney Hall.

The brothers are excited to meet James Mortmain, whose book they admire, and are amused by the eccentric, bohemian family.

She and Thomas concoct a scheme to help their father overcome his writer's block by the drastic expedient of imprisoning him in a medieval tower.

[8] I Capture the Castle was cited by Armistead Maupin as an influence on his novel Maybe the Moon, which he also structured as a diary.