Enchanted April
Enchanted April, a captivating novel by English Novelist Elizabeth von Arnim, transports readers to a sun-drenched Italian villa, where four weary women seek solace and rejuvenation. The story, published in 1922, is a timeless exploration of friendship, love, and the transformative power of nature.
The four women are Lotty Wilkins a miserably married housewife in her 20's; Rose Arbuthnot a devoutly religious housewife whose husband writes books she does not approve of; Lady Caroline "Scrap" Dester an enchantingly beautiful 28 socialite; and Mrs. Fisher an elderly woman clinging onto her Victorian youth.
Enchanted April is a testament to Arnim's ability to create vivid characters and evocative settings. The four protagonists, each struggling with their own personal challenges, find solace in the idyllic beauty of the Villa San Michele. Through their experiences, the reader is invited to contemplate the healing power of nature, the importance of friendship, and the possibility of second chances in love.
ELIZABETH VON ARNIM
Elizabeth von Arnim, née Mary Annette Beauchamp, was a German-born English author whose life mirrored the romantic escapism she often depicted in her works. She married a Prussian aristocrat, Count Roland von Arnim, and their life together was filled with travel and adventure. These experiences provided her with a wealth of inspiration for her novels.
Elizabeth von Arnim is a master at observing the tiniest detail in people - the small human failings that make us individuals and fascinating, like power and pettiness. And this is all revealed in the subtle characterisation in this wonderful book that takes you deeper and deeper.
"The result is at once a sun-washed fairytale and an insightful meditation on the transformative power of travel and women discovering their place in a new world."
“Now she had taken off her goodness and left it behind her like a heap of rain-sodden clothes, and she only felt joy.”
"Francesca from the sideboard watched Mrs. Fisher's was with macaroni gloomily, and her gloom deepened when she saw her at last take her knife to it and chop it small."
“How passionately she longed to be important to somebody again – not important on platforms, not important as an asset in an organisation, but privately important, just to one other person, quite privately, nobody else to know or notice. It didn’t seem much to ask in a world so crowded with people, just to have one of them, only one out of all the millions to oneself. Somebody who needed one, who thought of one, who was eager to come to one – oh, oh how dreadfully one wanted to be precious.”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, The Enchanted April