The Enchanted April
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  • Published: 1 September 2015
  • ISBN: 9781784870461
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $24.00

The Enchanted April

Formats & editions
Paperback
31 Jan 2023
Paperback
1 Sep 2015
Paperback
12 Jun 2012
Hardback
6 Jun 2023
EBook
9 Jul 2015
EBook
2 Jul 2012
Audiobook
15 Apr 2021
Paperback
15 Jan 2017
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Funny, irreverent and full of joy, this is the perfect book to accompany you on holiday - a celebration of escaping the everyday

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BRENDA BOWEN

Mrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot, cowed and neglected by their husbands, make a daring plan: they will have a holiday. Leaving a drab and rainy London one April and arriving on the shores of the Mediterranean, they discover a flower-filled paradise of beauty, warmth and leisure. Joined by the beautiful Lady Caroline and domineering Mrs Fisher, also in flight from the burdens of their daily lives, the four women proceed to transform themselves and their prospects.
  • Published: 1 September 2015
  • ISBN: 9781784870461
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $24.00
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About the author

Elizabeth Von Arnim

Elizabeth von Arnim was born on 31 August 1866 in Australia. She was cousin to the writer Katherine Mansfield. In 1890 she married her first husband, Count Henning August von Arnim-Schlagenthin, a Prussian aristocrat, with whom she had five children. Elizabeth and her German Garden, published anonymously in 1898, was a barely fictionalised account of Elizabeth’s life and the creation of her garden at the family home of Nassenheide in Pomerania, where Hugh Walpole and E. M. Forster were tutors to her children. Its instant success was followed by many more novels, including Vera (1921) and The Enchanted April (1922), and another almost-autobiography, All the Dogs of My Life (1936). She separated from Count von Arnim in 1908, and after his death two years later she built a house in Switzerland, marrying John Francis Stanley Russell in 1916. This marriage also ended in separation in 1919 when Elizabeth moved to America, where she died on 9 February 1941, aged 74.

Also by Elizabeth Von Arnim

Elizabeth and her German Garden
Vera
Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther
See all

Praise for The Enchanted April

This delicious confection will work its magic on all

Daily Telegraph

Brims with magic and laughter

Guardian

The Enchanted April sounds as if it would be an appallingly cloying cream puff of a fairy tale, but that would be to ignore that the author habitually kept a pot of lemon juice mixed with vinegar beside her ink-pot. With this bracing element there is additionally what can only be called a feast of flowers, hanging from every wall and pouring scent over the company.

Times Literary Supplement

A genuine feeling for color and for beauty

New York Times

A warm and uplifting book. (Very different from the kind I write!)...I remain in awe of a writer who can produce an enthralling story out of so little. When I'm plotting my books, I think of Von Arnim, and try to balance the dark with some lighter characterisation.

S.J. Bolton

An enchanting novel, witty, touching and very perceptively written, which will sweep you into wisteria and sunshine

Santa Montefiore

Elizabeth von Armin's most charming novel in every sense: it casts a spell...a sun-washed fairytale

Observer

Filled with hazy hills and fragrant flora, the novel is a dreamily sensuous description of the glories of Italian spring

Adam Nicolson, Mail on Sunday

A perfect summer read – light, romantic and witty

Helena Gumley-Mason, 4 stars, Lady

one of the most enchanting books I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading

Reading Matters

an absolute treat

Kate Saunders, Saga Magazine

This one is an enduring classic and it isn’t hard to see why – it’s full of delicious descriptions of Italy in April…and hope sliced through with wry observations. Pick this up if you’re looking for a pick-me-up while we wait for the sun to hit.

Madeline Loves