'I Capture the Castle': Who Am I? Quiz

Answer: Cassandra Mortmain

Cassandra is the middle of the Mortmain children, and is 17 when the book starts. 'I Capture the Castle' is split into three sections, each representing a different book where Cassandra narrates the story. She has left school, and is an aspiring writer.

Cassandra is in the bath when the Cottons visit. Simon and Neil describe her as 'consciously naive' and she is offended, but later becomes very close to Simon, as they bond over a shared love of music and books and Cassandra's midsummer ritual, and realises she is in love with him. She also has her first kiss with him, and comes very close to losing her virginity to Stephen, though Stephen backs off. When Cassandra goes to visit Rose in London, the two have a massive row, because Cassandra is angry that Rose is willing to marry Simon despite not loving him. She is stranded in London without any money, but Stephen bails her out. She and Thomas later hatch a plan to get their father writing again by imprisoning him in the castle tower. She and Simon spend some time together before he goes to America. Her final words in the book are, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.'

Answer: Rose Mortmain

Rose is the oldest of the Mortmain children, and is in her early twenties. She hates being poor, and she makes a wish on a gargoyle's head to get her out of poverty. Upon meeting the Cottons, she immediately targets Simon and scares them both away with her flirtatious behaviour. She and Cassandra go to London to collect their late great aunt's furs, and on the way home, the Cottons board their train and she and Cassandra try to hide from them. Rose is mistaken for a bear, as she is wearing a bearskin coachman's coat, but luckily the Cottons manage to resolve the situation.

Rose tries to win Simon over with Topaz and Cassandra's help, and succeeds. He proposes to her, and she gets him to shave off his beard. The two move in together, and Rose uses her newfound money to help support her family, but Thomas and Cassandra figure out that Rose does not love Simon. After an argument with Cassandra, Rose runs away, and elopes to America with Neil, the brother whom she really loves.

Answer: Simon Cotton

Simon is the elder of the Cotton brothers, making him the heir of Scoatney Hall, and grew up with their mother in New England. He loves music and books, moves in intellectual circles, and takes a great interest in James Mortmain and his work. He also loves England, and willingly participates in Cassandra's midsummer ritual. However, while he likes her as a friend, he is in love with Rose, and does not find out that she does not love him back until it is too late. While Rose is shopping with Topaz and Mrs Cotton, Cassandra and Simon spend an evening together at Scoatney, and he kisses her.

Simon and Topaz return to the village to search for Rose, and he and Cassandra go to look for her in the village. They realise what is going on when they overhear her and Neil in an inn. He sees Cassandra for one last time before returning to America, where he is going to write about James Mortmain's new book. He asks Cassandra to come with him, but she turns him down. However, he promises to come back to Scoatney, as he loves the place too much to desert it.

Answer: Neil Cotton

Neil is the younger and more outgoing of the Cotton brothers; while Simon was raised by their mother, Neil was raised by their father in California, and he prefers the outdoors life. He is very friendly to Cassandra and Thomas, but dislikes Rose - or so Cassandra thinks - seeing her as affected and a gold digger. During the incident on the train, Rose screams at Neil when he chases her with a pitchfork, mistaking her for a bear, and slaps him. He resolves the situation by pretending that he killed the 'bear' with the pitchfork. Rose later reveals that she also kissed him.

Cassandra takes Neil swimming to give Rose and Simon time alone together, and Neil is angry when he discovers that the two are to be married, not only because he thinks Rose has ulterior motives, but also because he is in love with her, despite being unfriendly towards her. Rose and Neil later elope and move out to California, where Neil has a job on a ranch. Rose reveals near the end of the book that Neil immediately went to the flat to see her after Stephen told him that she did not love Simon.

Answer: Thomas Mortmain

Thomas Mortmain is fifteen, and the only one of the children still in full-time education. He is a fairly minor character early on in the book, but appears more after Rose leaves for London. He is friends with Stephen and asks him to stop calling him 'Master Thomas'. Neil gives him a ham after the Cottons spot him and Stephen looking through the windows while the older girls and adults are at a dinner party at Scoatney. He figures out that Rose is not in love with Simon, because her letter from London barely mentions him, whereas he recalls Simon talking incessantly about her while they were walking around the stables.

Thomas' best friend Harry's father, a doctor, is very critical of 'Jacob Wrestling', saying he cannot understand it, though Harry and Thomas both understand it; Thomas also likes modern poetry. He and Cassandra come up with a plan to get their father writing again by locking him in the tower, and he encourages Cassandra to stick to the plan when she starts to give in. He and Cassandra take turns keeping watch, and he is mainly responsible for feeding Mr Mortmain and giving him water for washing.

Answer: Stephen Colly

Stephen is in love with Cassandra, although he refers to her as 'Miss' Cassandra because of his mother being a former servant, and the class differences between them and the Mortmains. He helps the Mortmains around the house, and also gets a job working on a nearby farm. He likes poetry, but is too embarrassed to write his own, so he copies poems out and gives them to Cassandra, claiming them as his own work. He and Cassandra kiss, and he even starts pulling her dress down, but he panics and backs off.

Leda Fox-Cotton takes an interest in Stephen and pays him to come to London and be photographed. She also helps him get a minor film role because of his good looks. Stephen saves up his wages to buy Cassandra a wireless. Although Cassandra does not love him, she is still jealous when Mrs Fox-Cotton comes on to him. Stephen is staying with the Fox-Cottons while Cassandra visits Rose, and when Cassandra is stranded in London without money, she calls them and Stephen comes to the rescue, though Mrs Fox-Cotton tries to stop him. Stephen is in the studio with her when Cassandra phones, and it is implied that they had sex. Stephen begs Cassandra to marry him, but she turns him down. He leaves the Mortmains' village to live and work in London. Rose later reveals that Stephen told Neil that she was not in love with Simon.

Answer: James Mortmain

James Mortmain is a temperamental widower, the father of Rose, Cassandra and Thomas, and the writer of 'Jacob Wrestling', a novel which received rave reviews, although some consider it to be impenetrable. Before the story begins, he was sent to prison for three months, after a neighbour saw him brandishing a cake knife during an argument with Mrs Mortmain, and called the police. Since his release, Mortmain has not written anything and spends most of his time readng detective novels. Both Topaz and Mrs Cotton hope to inspire him to write. He regularly visits Scoatney and befriends Mrs Cotton, and also confuses his younger children by fixating on random items, such as a carpet bag.

Mortmain uses the gatehouse as a place to write. Cassandra catches him working on something, but he refuses to let her see it and accidentally pushes her into the door, hurting her. Out of frustration, Thomas and Cassandra trap him in the tower with food and writing materials and refuse to let him out, and it pays off. He writes 'the cat sat on the mat' several times, after a throwaway comment made by Cassandra, and it evolves into a book based around the concept of a child learning to read and write, The book also contains a variety of puzzles. Publishers in Britain and America give Mortmain an advance, and the first few chapters are to be published in an American magazine.

Answer: Topaz Mortmain

Topaz is James Mortmain's second wife, an artist's model, and aspires to be his muse. The pair met at a party, and Mortmain is her third husband; her first was a circus performer called Carlo, and her second was a fashion artist called Everard. She likes to commune with nature, which sometimes involves going outside naked except for a pair of waders. She also paints (badly), plays the lute and speaks in an affected deep voice, which she drops when she is genuinely upset or worried. Despite her eccentricities, she is also very practical. She notices that Rose is interested in Simon and does what she can to encourage the relationship, including downplaying her own looks to make Rose stand out more.

Aubrey Fox-Cotton takes an interest in Topaz, as he recognises her from a Macmorris painting, and reintroduces her to the art world. She goes to London with Rose, while Cassandra stays behind to look after Thomas and her father. Topaz worries that Mortmain and Mrs Cotton are having an affair, but realises that this is not the case. She is angry with Cassandra and Thomas when she finds out about their plan, but calms down after they encourage her to go into the tower and see Mortmain.

Answer: Leda Fox-Cotton

Leda and Aubrey Fox-Cotton, who live in a smart flat in London, are distant relatives of the Cottons and are invited to their dinner party at Scoatney. Aubrey is an architect, and Leda is a photographer who, as it turns out, specialises in photographing naked young men. Cassandra immediately dislikes her after she asks Leda what she is reading, and Leda says it is 'no book for little girls'. Leda is impressed by Stephen's good looks and asks him to come to London so she can photograph him. She and Cassandra clash over this, as Leda worries Cassandra will try and talk Stephen out of it.

When Cassandra goes to London to visit Rose, she calls on the Fox-Cottons as Rose, Topaz and Mrs Cotton are all out for the afternoon. Leda is photographing Stephen, and is not pleased to see Cassandra there, especially as she realises how Stephen feels about her. She complains about Cassandra making Stephen take her home that night instead of staying overnight, as getting the job means he will have to come back to London. When Cassandra rings the studio in desperation, Leda refuses to let her talk to Stephen, but Stephen wrestles the phone away from her. It is implied that the two have been having sex in the studio.

Answer: Mrs Elspeth Cotton

Elspeth Cotton is the mother of Simon and Neil, and lived with Simon in New England after she and their father separated. She takes a great interest in James Mortmain's work and even manages to get him to talk about things he usually keeps quiet, which makes Topaz feel insecure. She has a very blunt manner and is good at getting people to open up. Mortmain describes her, and American women in general, as 'stimulating'.

Topaz is worried that Mrs Cotton and Mortmain are having an affair, and keeps an eye on her, but later realises that Mrs Cotton does not love Mortmain and merely wants to inspire his work, and 'collects' famous people. Mrs Cotton is very fond of Rose, treating her like a daughter, and is upset when she runs off with Neil, although she does forgive them both. She goes to New York with Simon for the winter.