Books to bring you joy ...

    ... The Enchanted April.

    This seems a good time to be reminded of the joy that is Elizabeth von Arnim's best-loved novel. If you don't already know it, here's a post I wrote a few years ago:

    "It was, that year, a particularly wonderful spring, and of all the months at San Salvatore April, if the weather was fine, was best. May scorched and withered; March was restless, and could be hard and cold in its brightness; but April came along softly like a blessing, and if it were a fine April it was so beautiful that it was impossible not to feel different, not to feel stirred and touched."

    Happily for the four ladies at the heart of Elizabeth von Arnim's novel, April at San Salvatore that year was not just fine but enchanted, and the magic of the book with its theme of transformation and regeneration continues to touch and delight, reading after reading.

    If you're new to it, four ladies, previously unknown to one another, take a castle in Italy for a month's holiday. One, the lofty Mrs. Fisher, is a widow who lives mostly in the past, preferring to sit in solitude and remember "better times and better men"; Lotty and Rose are escaping their mundane, dutiful lives, and their husbands - one a pompous bore, the other a biographer of scandalous women; and the fourth member of the party is Lady Caroline Dester, society beauty and fair game, it seems, for every man she meets. The driving force behind the holiday is Lotty: "she who in England had been such a thing of gusts" now finds balance and indeed bliss at San Salvatore, so much so that she longs to share the experience with the husband she has left behind. Rose, with "the face of a patient and disappointed Madonna", also finds spaciousness in life at the castle, so that she too craves the presence of her husband from whom she has become distanced. And while Lady Caroline lies in the sun and smoothes her ruffled feathers, Mrs. Fisher grows restless and somehow her spirit burgeons as it has never done before.

    " ... there was something peculiar in the atmosphere at San Salvatore. It promoted expansion. It brought out dormant qualities..."

    and as not only Messrs. Wilkins and Arbuthnot arrive to join their respective wives, but the castle's owner Mr. Briggs drops in, too, the place casts its spell and love and light-heartedness blossom.

    The book is charming, (the film, I think, almost more so), a happy, uplifting read, and one to return to. "The novel is the lightest of omelettes," says Terence de Vere White in the introduction to my edition, "in the making of which the least possible number of eggs get broken. Only an incorrigible pedant would try to judge it at a deeper level."

Comments

[Mary]

That's such a lovely book. I've just been looking on my shelf and can't find it, must have had it from the library - what a shame. I'm re-reading The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne which suits my dour Celtic soul! Probably just as well I didn't go panic-buying tonic wine and sweet sherry!

[Cornflower]

Yes indeed!

[semi]

I’ve just finished reading this. At a time when we’re all on isolation the descriptions of the gardens and how they change over the holiday were even lovelier. It was such a feel good fun read.

[Cornflower]

So glad you liked it, Semi - "feel good" is exactly what it is!

[Karen K]

Possibly the most comforting book I can imagine, right up there with Jane Austen and Angela Thirkell.

[callmemadam]

Oh yes, definitely a book for these times. Perhaps I'll watch the film again, which is lovely, as you say and has added Michael Kitchen. I was just thinking about both the other day and putting them on my list of comforting things.

[Nora]

I loved the book and adored the movie.

[Rose]

Remember it first time around with Cornflower

[Jane Saunte]

Beautifully written by Elizabeth von Armin, one of the most under-rated female authors. An elegaic Barbara Pym. For those who cannot get out, it is on offer TODAY (4th April) as the Kindle Deal of the Day for £0.99,if you buy before midnight British Summer Time.

[Margaret Powling]

Snap!!! I have recently mentioned the book and the film (sounds like a TV panel game!) on my own blog, Karen! Love them both. Indeed, I lent my DVD of the film to someone but can't recall to whom I lent it, so I've bought another copy. I think it's the perfect film for April, perfect location, a simple story, and wonderful casting. Even a young Michael Kitchen in it, before his Foyle's War series. And it is also nice to have a glimpse of Linley Sambourne House in London (not that I've been there, but it was the home of the late Lord Snowdon's great-grandfather, a Punch cartoonist) in which Mrs Fisher lives (Dame Joan Plowright).

[Cornflower]

Good company there, Karen!

[Cornflower]

Michael Kitchen is great in it!

[Cornflower]

Both are perfect!

[Cornflower]

It was fun!

[Cornflower]

Many thanks for pointing that out, Jane.

[Cornflower]

Off to look up the house now - many thanks, Margaret!

[Regina]

After reading your blog entry I looked up the author & book and bought a used copy with a very nice cover. The book is a light and easy read and the humour is wonderful, too. Looking forward to the film after reading the book. Thank you for your interesting blog.

[Cornflower]

You're welcome, Regina, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the book.

[Cath]

I read this one a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. In fact, I saw the film first as I'm quite a fan of Michael Kitchen as are some of the other people who have commented here too. I also loved the author's German Garden book, but that's all I've read so I must find more by her.

[Cornflower]

I must read the German Garden book!

[cathy]

This is a favorite of mine, too & just re-read it as a comfort book during this covid time. I did have to laugh, though, because all through the book, they talk about how old Mrs. Fisher is. Turns out she's 65. Perhaps 65 was old when von Arnim wrote this, but I don't consider it old anymore. lol! Love the movie version, too.

[Cornflower]

65 is no age at all!