As part of my June Hygge month, I picked up a few novels on Kindle (they can be very cheap, especially for classics that are out of copyright) and last night I settled down at bedtime to start one.

I chose The Blue Castle, mainly because I (and here I blush) haven’t read any L M Montgomery ever ever ever and I know there’s a new series based on Anne of Green Gables that I want to watch.

The Blue Castle isn’t a book in the Anne series, it’s a stand alone novel about Valancy Stirling, 29, unmarried and distinctly undervalued in a family that are, frankly, rather hideous.  She lives in the Red Brick Box but her internal dream world is the Blue Castle, a place where she is beautiful and loved.

When she receives a diagnosis of a heart condition that may leave her only a year to live, Valancy decides to stop her mean, little existence and to actually, really live. She moves out, finds a valuable role as a carer for a really ill person and falls in love (I guess) with the town reprobate. The reviews on Amazon sound good,and I’m happy to say the book caught me enough last night that, instead of turning off and settling down when the hubby did, I read on for a good 30 minutes. I’m holding on for my first few quiet minutes today, so I can read more.

Reading is such a pleasure: we read to escape, to learn, to gain understanding and empathy. This book was written a hundred years ago, but some of its themes, of living an authentic life and of being the best You you can be are so relevant today, so necessary still. We may not have over bearing mothers (or we may) but there are other forces at work on people of all ages.

Perhaps part of my hygge in June is looking for the authentic me, the things I like and don’t like, and making the time to do the things I need.

I usually post a paragraph here about my books and social media. I’m leaving that this month: if you’d like to know about my books and my social media links, then please click through to them here: My Books and Social Media.