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The Enchanted April

Series: VMC
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( 39,727 ratings, 6,210 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim follows the story of four women, each dealing with their own struggles, who decide to escape their mundane lives by renting a medieval castle in Italy for a month. Away from societal pressures, they find personal growth and unexpected bonds in the idyllic setting, leading to personal transformations. This tale offers a gentle exploration of friendship, self-discovery, and the magic of a simple change in scenery.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to tales of personal transformation set in enchanting locations. It tells the story of four women who escape their dreary lives in England to spend a month together in a beautiful Italian castle, exploring themes of friendship, renewal, and the magic of fresh beginnings amidst stunning scenery.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

At one level an escapist fantasy, at another a parable about the liberation of the spirit, this delicious confection will work its magic on all.' 'The Daily Telegraph

At one level an escapist fantasy, at another a parable about the liberation of the spirit, this delicious confection will work its magic on all.' 'The Daily Telegraph

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A discreet advertisement in The Times, addressed to 'Those who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine...' is the impetus for a revelatory month for four very different women. High above the bay on the Italian Riviera stands San Salvatore, a mediaeval castle. Beckoned to this haven are Mrs. Wilkins, Mrs Arbuthnot, Mrs Fisher and Lady Caroline Dester, each quietly craving a respite. Lulled by the Mediterranean spirit, they gradually shed their skins and discover a harmony each of them has longed for but never known.

First published in 1922 and reminiscent of Elizabeth and Her German Garden, this delightful novel is imbued with the descriptive power and light-hearted irreverence for which Elizabeth von Arnim is renowned.

Series: VMC

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  • The Enchanted April
    A discreet advertisement in The Times, addressed to 'Those who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine...' is the impetus for a revelatory month for four very different women. High above the bay on the Italian Riviera stands San Salvatore, a mediaeval castle. Beckoned to this haven are Mrs. Wilkins, Mrs Arbuthnot, Mrs Fisher and Lady Caroline Dester, each quietly craving a respite....
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Enchanted April is celebrated as both an escapist fantasy and a parable about spiritual liberation, enchanting readers with its magical charm.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781844087617

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 04 August 2011

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Virago Press Ltd

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Sarah Dunant
  • Introduction by Sarah Dunant

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 202.0mm

Weight: 420g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Elizabeth von Arnim was born in Australia in 1866. In 1894 she and her first husband moved to Nassenheide which was wittily encapsulated in her most famous novel, 'Elizabeth and her German Garden'. She was described by Alice Meynell as 'one of the three finest wits of her day'.

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  • The Enchanted April
    Introducing Little Clothbound Classics β€” irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas, and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim's brilliant, irrepressible novella, tells the tale of four very different women who, upon answering an advertisement in The Times, find themselves far away from the drizzle of London and...
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  • Elizabeth and her German Garden
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  • The Enchanted April
    Funny, irreverent and full of joy, this is the perfect book to accompany you on holiday β€” 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...
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  • The Enchanted April
    A funny and charming novel about four women in Italy, introduced by Salley Vickers. A notice in The Times addressed to 'Those who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine' advertises a 'small mediaeval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be let furnished for the month of April'. Four very different women take up the offer, escaping dreary London for...
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  • The Enchanted April
    The charming, slyly comic novel of romantic longing and transformation set on the Italian seaside, and the inspiration for the beloved 1992 film of the same name, for publication alongside Enchanted August, a contemporary reimagining from Pamela Dorman Books / Viking. A Penguin Classic The charming, slyly comic novel of romantic longing and transformation that inspired the Oscar-nominated film. Four...
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  • Introduction to Sally
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