The Enchanted April
by Elizabeth von Arnim
List Price:
Our Price: $11.09
You Save: $3.86 (26%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $8.69 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Elizabeth von ArnimEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-23
ISBN: 1442147040
Number of pages: 202
Publisher: CreateSpace
Book Reviews of The Enchanted April
Book Review: An exuberant story
Summary: 5 Stars
"To Those Who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine. Small mediaeval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be let furnished for the month of April."
Seduced by the above advertisement, practical British housewives Lottie Wilkins and Rose Arbuthnot decide to pool their savings together and rent for a month, part of an Italian castle in San Salvatore, Italy. They barely know each other or the other women who will be sharing the castle with them, a beautiful, world weary socialite, Lady Caroline Dester; and an elderly woman who longs for the better, more refined days of her youth, Mrs. Fisher.
Lottie wants to get away from the drudgery of being a housewife and Rose wants to get away from her loveless marriage. Lady Caroline just wants to be left alone and Mrs. Fisher desires solitude in which to better treasure her memories. Thrown in together for a month in San Salvatore's beautiful setting, each character blooms.
Mrs. Fisher relaxes her disapproving and mean demeanor. Lady Caroline begins to open herself to others. Unhappy Rose blossoms with re-invigorated love for her husband, who also falls back in love with her. But the most delightful character is Lottie, who goes from being meek and hesitant to quickly embracing the magic of San Salvatore. Her unshakeable belief in San Salvatore's transformative power and sheer joy for living is infectious.
"...it is heaven, isn't it, Rose? See how everything has been let in together--the dandelions and the irises, the vulgar and the superior, me and Mrs. Fisher--all welcome, all mixed up anyhow, and all so visibly happy and enjoying ourselves."
"Mrs. Fisher doesn't seem happy - not visibly, anyhow," said Mrs. Arbuthnot, smiling.
"She'll begin soon, you'll see." ... Mrs. Wilkins said she was sure no one, however old and tough could resist the effects of perfect beauty. Before many days, perhaps only hours, they would see Mrs. Fisher bursting out into every kind of exuberance.
Never has Italy been so beautiful as it is in this book - stunning passages of the countryside (as compared to wet and dreary England) that evoke the same feelings of wonder in the characters.
"All down the stone steps on either side were periwinkles, in full flower, and she could now see what it was that had caught at her the night before and brushed, wet and scented, across her face. It was wistaria. Wistaria and sunshine .. She remembered the advertisement. Here indeed were both in profusion. The wistaria was tumbling over itself in its excess of life, its progality of flowering; and where the pergola ended, the sun blazed on scarlet geraniums, bushes of them, and nasturtiums in great heaps, and marigolds so brilliant that they seemed to be burning...all outdoing each other in bright fierce colour."
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.89
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.17
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
All the Dogs of My Lifeby Elizabeth Von Armin, Elizabeth Von Arnim
Random House, Inc.; Published: 2000-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.62
A Year in Provenceby Peter Mayle
Vintage; Published: 1991-06-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.67
Price in other shops:
A Room of One's Own (Annotated)by Virginia Woolf
Mariner Books; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.10
Price in other shops:
The Caravanersby Elizabeth Von Arnim
Wildhern Press; Published: 2008-01-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.62
Price in other shops:
Rebeccaby Daphne Du Maurier
Harper Paperbacks; William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 1997-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
One Writer's Beginnings (William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization)by Eudora Welty
Harvard University Press; Published: 1998-07-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grassby Isak Dinesen
Vintage; Published: 1989-10-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.64
Price in other shops:
Elizabeth And Her German Gardenby Elizabeth Von Arnim, Marie Annette Beauchamp
CreateSpace; Published: 2009-02-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
The Solitary Summerby Elizabeth Von Arnim
Watchmaker Publishing; Published: 2010-04-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Enchanted AprilLions Gate; Release date: 2011-04-26; DVD
Best price: $7.09
Price in other shops: