I CAPTURE THE CASTLE

I CAPTURE THE CASTLE Dodie Smith (Wyatt, $23.95) Here's something that would be a superb next project for Kate Winslet. Dreamy and funny, it's the story of two poverty-stricken ingenues who inhabit a decrepit yet dearly beloved English castle with their frustrated author father and flamboyant stepmother, Topaz. Two dashing, rich young American men move into the manse next door, and all the delicious complications you might expect ensue, as well as many you wouldn't. This is the 1948 first novel of the British-born author of The Hundred and One Dalmations, and an odd, shimmering timelessness clings to its pages. A thousand and one cheers for its reissue. A+