The Enchanted April Paperback – January 8, 2009

I am partial to stories about people who successfully escape a mundane life and find magic, either the magic of fantasy stories or the more potent magic of discovering what one really has needed to live a rich life. The Enchanted April is the latter type of story.I was first acquainted with the story via the Golden Globe award-winning movie of the same name. Housewives Lottie Wilkins and Rose Arbuthnot, bedeviled by rain, dreary routines and joyless marriages in post WWI Hampstead, England, determine to spend an April at San Salvatore, a "Small mediaeval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be Let furnished for the month of April". Says Mrs. Wilkins to Mrs. Arbuthnot, "I'm sure it's wrong to go on being good for too long, till one gets miserable. And I can see you've been good for years and years, because you look so unhappy [. . .] and I--- I've done nothing but duties, things for other people, every since I was a girl, and I don't believe anybody loves me a bit--a bit---the b-better. . ."To San Salvatore they go, reducing the expenses further by recruiting two more women. Wealthy and elderly Mrs. Fisher and beautiful socialite (in fact, she is too beautiful for her own good) Lady Caroline Dester have their own reasons for wishing to take a break from their lives.Unusually enough, I like the movie a smidge more than the book. I think the movie handles certain situations more deftly and amusingly than the book. What the book provides, that the movie does not, is a touch of kindly social satire that reminded me of Jane Austin, and a clearer account of the mistaken notions that have landed all four women in their individual pickles. Author Elizabeth von Arnim clearly likes her characters, but she does not present them as saintly women put upon by a wicked and unappreciative world. They are flawed. Their flaws, however, are presented in such a way as to evoke sympathy and, rather unexpectedly, amusement.In fact, I believe that the character portraits of the women, and the men in their lives, are the book's strength and the best reason to read it. Van Arnim's characters blossom from their pinched and unsatisfactory lives like the flowers of San Salvatore, and it is a pleasure to watch them bloom in their several quirky ways. I think the other strength of the book is the gorgeous descriptions of San Salvatore, with its gardens, its spacious rooms, and its magnificent views. The book is a testament to the healing and clarifying effects of living in the midst of natural beauty.Reading The Enchanted April is itself a vacation from modern-day melodrama, angst, and ugliness. Bask in van Armin's sometimes lush and always light-hearted prose, and imagine yourself in felicitous company in the gardens of San Salvatore. I know I did!Don't forget to view the movie, too.

The Enchanted April will not be everyone's cup of tea..........what book is? However for me it was the book I needed to be reading during a very stressful and sad time in my life. It didn't require any concentration.....there was no violence or drama.......there was no heart wrenching grief or hair pulling frustration. It is a book that is soothing and light, refreshing and well written.The Enchanted April transports the reader along with four other women to a medieval castle in Portofino, in Italy. The women all undergo a transformation of one kind or another, but in such an entirely realistic and believable way you become one of the guests at the castle as well.The story is slow. It is meant to be. Elizabeth von Amim wants to transport her readers to another world and time where sunshine and flowers work their magic on the troubled soul.

This is one of my favorite novels! It is timeless! The bringing together of four diverse women and having them fall under the enchantment of Italy makes me want to pack a bag and head off to Italy! Their stories just surround your heart with love and compassion. This novel was written in 1928 and still wonderful today!

I admit, I'm rather picky when it comes to literary writing, so others may rate this higher. I feel that the writing isn't as sensually appealing as the dialogue in the movie. I love the movie so much, I've probably seen it at least 8 times. The idea for the story is awesome, so I can understand why the film industry took to it and created a movie full of eye candy and charming dialogue. I, personally, didn't feel the magic in the book that I felt in the movie.

"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."