The Enchanted April
by Elizabeth von Arnim
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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."
Summary of The Enchanted April
The lure of Italy is hard to resist. For four British women, the attraction brings them to San Salvatore, a Tuscan villa, for an entire month of vacation. The women are very different. Lotty Wilkins, nervous and talkative, is treated like a child by her husband and is starting to chafe from his oppression. Rose Arbuthnot, with a "face like a disappointed madonna," is pious, sweet, and desperately unhappy. Margaret Fisher, stern and demanding, lives in a past peppered with famous literary encounters. And Caroline Dester, striking beautiful and popular, is lonely and bored with her whirlwind social life. The four rent San Salvatore together, and immediately begin to change. What is it that changes these women? Sun and rest in a beautiful place? Yes, partly, but mostly it is the friendship of three extraordinary people.Classics Books
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