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Jan 08, 2012

Mariel rated it:

There's a castle in Italy. Wisteria grows there. Can you picture the private wilderness? The castle is not important. It is a fortress to protect the plants. Don't tread on me. More importantly, can you see yourself there? It's a little place unmolested and unpressed on by who you are in all of those other places you can't quite see yourself in but you're still there all the same. If you wander around in that bit of wild life will you leave tracks in the dirt there too? You know that Camera Obs More...

7 comments like (19 people liked it)

Sep 18, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Shall I tell you a secret? .. It's always been my fantasy to share a castle with my friends!

This book was a joy to read! It satisfies so many of my literary cravings: kinship, validation, botanical beauty. There's a shy misfit, a beautiful socialite. All four voices, though quite distinct, resonated with me in some way. Elizabeth von Arnim was very smart in the way she developed characters and intertwined their separate narratives into one cohesive whole. I was just enough aware of l More...

18 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2010

Wanda rated it:

Go to the Amalfi Coast, rent a villa in Portofino and you will be happy for the rest of your life. Honestly, if I could gaze upon the wisteria all the hours of the day, I would be happy too.

This sweet little book is about rebirth and renewal. As the April blooms spring forth from the Earth and renew the landscape, so does the "enchanted April" work its magic on the four women of this book. Each is escaping from London for her own reasons, and I am so happy More...

13 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2010

Sandybanks rated it:

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19 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2008

Linda rated it:

On a rainy February day in England, a woman on the verge of desperation overcomes her natural reserve to invite another unhappy woman to share the rental of an Italian villa with her in Italy. They invite two other strangers to share expenses, and then the Italian sunshine works its magic.
I didn't even know this was a book and not just a movie until it became a pick for the Constant Reader group. It is a wonderful read: beautifully delineated characters that show growth, a lovely setting, More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 14, 2009

Bibliophile rated it:

The Enchanted April was, well, enchanting. I’d seen and adored the film version, but I’d never read the book before (and even though I read it in May, it did seem like the right time of year!) The story is very slight indeed – four strangers rent a castle in Italy together, and the combination of wisteria and sunshine ends up “fixing” what’s wrong with their lives in London – but it’s charmingly told, and Elizabeth von Arnim’s descriptions of the profusion of flowers and sunshine at San Salvat More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2011

Bettie rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2011

Melee rated it:

Lovely, lovely book! I've been wanting to read Elizabeth von Arnim's work for what seems like forever, but my library system is pathetically lacking in that respect (except for the film version of Enchanted April which I watched last month). When I found a great number of Elizabeth von Arnim's novels on Project Gutenberg I was in heaven! Though reading books online is not ideal, it's so convenient for those books I can't find anywhere else. But I will definitely be buying a tangible copy of The More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2008

Yulia rated it:

Bravo, I'm in love with this book, from beginning to end. A new favorite! Predictable, yes, and with dissatisfying male characters, but I could forgive her for almost anything.

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Lovely lines so far:

"[. . .] and they had a prolonged quarrel, if that can be called a quarrel which is conducted with dignified silence on one side and earnest apology on the other, as to whether or no Mrs. Wilkins had intende More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2010

Leslie rated it:

"It was cloudy in Italy, which surprised them. They expected brilliant sunshine. But never mind; it was Italy, and the very clouds looked fat."
Seriously one of the best books I'v ever read. This is my third or fourth time reading it and each time I draw something new from its pages. It divides a woman's adult life (remember it was written at the turn of that century) into four stages: single, married, married with children, and widowhood. All of these are represented in this book More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2008

Genevieve rated it:

I started out thinking the book would be a dull but pretty book of description but I was wrong. Then I thought there would have to be some unseemly affair to make the book a romance since the 2 main characters were already married but I was wrong. Then I thought that I would have to sludge through good women being taken advantage of and again I was wrong. I had all the wrong ideas about this book and they caused me to waste all of that time dreading nothing. In the end it was nothing but lovely More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 06, 2008

Graceann rated it:

Please see my detailed review at Amazon.com Grace's "Enchanted April" Review"

Please click that the review was helpful to you at Amazon so that my rating continues to climb!

I am so glad that this book was nominated for the Classics group at Constant Reader. I knew the story, having enjoyed both film versions, but I had never settled in with the novel that begat them. Gorgeous literary style that had me able to smell the flowers, feel the sunshine, and ye More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2008

jen rated it:

I read Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April in record time. It's the story of 4 very different British women who decide to rent a villa in San Salvatore, Italy for a month together. Each is fleeing from Britain for her own reasons -- too many suitors, negligent husbands, loneliness, English gloominess. Once the women arrive in San Salvatore, the novel jumps between the rebirth of the Italian landscape in spring and the rebirth of the 4 renters' spirits. While this story is, in the end, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2011

Kate Mc. rated it:

A happy, feel good read. It's a fairy tale, a pick-me-up on a cold day, a book that brings the whole mystique of Italy's warm sun and soft oceans to bear against cold modern existence. So much fun.

Four English women make arrangements to share a Medieval castle in Italy for a month. They are worn down by their lives, dissatisfied, unhappy. As they settle into the villa, they begin to flower with the Italian spring, discovering (or rediscovering) love. From the thin March rain in More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Ali rated it:

Oh my what a treat, I started this while in hospital a few hours after undergoing minor surgery, and finished it at home - and it was perfect reading for being laid up with. It is probably perfect reading for almost anytime. Four women who are little more than strangers to one another, and who are not, to begin with, entirely comfortable with one another, share a castle on the Italian riviera for the month of April. In sight of the sea and surrounded by flowers, their holiday in San Salvatore be More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 31, 2011

Joy H. added it

Added 10/31/11.
I saw the movie only. It was called "Enchanted April" (1992). It was a charming film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101811/
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Enchan...

Summary (from my local library online catalog):
"Two proper, middle-class English women, bored with their lives and their passionless husbands, spend a month on vacation in a medieval villa on the Italian Riviera. The idyllic hideaway holds a special magic, and they find More...

4 comments like

Jun 06, 2011

Book Concierge rated it:

Mrs Wilkins (Lotty) is spending a February afternoon at the Women’s Club when she happens to see an advertisement in the newspaper – a “castle” to let for the month of April in sunny Italy. This very proper British wife of an up-and-coming solicitor would never dream of doing anything so rash as going on holiday without her husband. And yet … who could blame her for desiring “wisteria and sunshine,” and she does have that little nest egg saved. Oh, but she couldn’t possibly … As she turns fro More...

0 comments like

May 29, 2011

Tony rated it:

von Arnim, Elizabeth. THE ENCHANTED APRIL. (1922). ****.
von Arnhim, nee Beauchamp, was born in Australia to a merchant shipper. His goal was to explore the world, and he took his family with him. When his wife died, he continued to take Elizabeth along with him, until he remarried and settled in England. Elizabeth ultimately married twice, the final time to a German count and then went to live in Pomerania. Her first book was “Elizabeth and Her German Garden,” which was enormousl More...

3 comments like

Feb 12, 2011

Helen rated it:

The Enchanted April, first published in 1922, is the story of four women who rent a castle in Italy together one April. The women are strangers to each other at the beginning of the novel, but each of them has her own reasons for wanting a holiday. Spending a month at San Salvatore surrounded by sunshine and flowers gives each woman a chance to resolve her problems and try to find happiness.

I'm so glad my first experience with Elizabeth von Arnim was a good one. I hadn't expected som More...

0 comments like

Oct 09, 2010

Miriam rated it:

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0 comments like

Oct 06, 2009

Suzanne rated it:

Rose feels neglected by her writer husband, and Lottie is tired of being "good." The remedy they suppose is to get away for a month, using money they have saved, without their husbands. They decide to rent a small castle in Italy, and they recurit two other ladies along to help foot the bill.

Lady Caroline, or Scrap, is a young, high society girl and Mrs. Foster is an old widow with a cane. They join Rose & Lottie after replying to an ad requesting traveling/vacation com More...

0 comments like

Jul 10, 2009

Daniele rated it:

I found this enthralling book by mere chance and the more I went on with its story the more extremely pleased I was with my fortunate discovery.

Subtle character-driven irony and perfect characterization make this novel so much Jane-Austen-like that if it weren't for the lack of balls and much nose powdering I could have sworn Austen had helped with writing it.

It is quite refreshing and captivating at the same time, almost as if the enchanted Italian environment would rea More...

2 comments like

Mar 28, 2008

Nicole rated it:

What could be more enticing on a cold, wet, February day than to read "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." and feel this is an answer to all woes. Mrs Wilkins did and convinced three more ladies to leave all connections and ties for one month, just one month with no expectations, no plans. "Think of getting away for a whole month--from everything--to heaven--"

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Terry rated it:

I saw the movie adaptation of this novel first. I really enjoyed the movie though many might consider it a "chick flick." I read that the novel is also considered "a woman's book" and see that most reviewers are women. Despite that, here is my take on this delightful novel.

The novel is a fascinating character exploration of four English women from very different backgrounds and situations. They share a rented Italian chateau for a month. Each has come for her own More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2011

Celinethesword rated it:

one of my favorite books although not for it's story line but for the atmosphere. I think I must have read it about 5 times already and could read it all over again. the story is nothing special, four women with totally different backgrounds end up spending one month in a castle in Tuscany. At first most of the characters are quite odd (maybe me being French and not understanding the 'englishness' about them) but they all start having those revelations once they settle in these beautiful surroun More...

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Jul 14, 2009

JoLee rated it:

I saw this movie in college, but I can't remember where or with whom. If I had to guess, I would guess it was with Janelle at her parents' house. The general tone of the book and movie seems to fit in with the other movies that I know I watched there. When I found out this was the next book for book club the movie started to come back to me. "Was that the movie with the four women? And they went to Italy? And there was a garden? And their husbands came?" Yes, that was the one. More...

0 comments like

Apr 19, 2011

Chris rated it:

I find Enchanted April to be an extremely difficult book to review. The book is too close to my heart. Not in the same way that Possession or The Lord of the Rings are, but in some secret hidden corner.

Enchanted April is about four women who rediscover life. It is about four women who rediscover the meaning of friendship. It's about four women who learn to leave the prejudices behind. It is about the discovery and rediscovery of love. Above all, it is about Italy.

Th More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 30, 2011

Sharon rated it:

"The Enchanted April" belongs on the shelf right next to "The Awakening" -- it's a wonderful piece of early feminist literature.

Four very different women in 1920s London take advantage of an opportunity to rent a castle on the Italian coast. Mrs. Wilkins is the emotionally abused wife of a solitor (and instigator of the entire trip, although she is afraid to spend her tiny nest egg on the project); Mrs. Fisher is an elderly widow; Mrs. Arbuthnot is a religious wo More...

0 comments like

Jun 30, 2009

Julie rated it:

This is one instance where having seen the movie first the book is not ruined for the reader. I purchased the movie quite a few years ago, not recognizing that it was a book, only that it was a well-crafted film about a group of women who leave London for a month-long trip to Italy. Imagine by surprise when I realized it was based on a book, and then of course my subsequent embarrassment at realizing how dimwitted I had been in not finding this out sooner. Regardless of how you find out about _T More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 04, 2010

Eileen rated it:

This one is best for escapism, because that's exactly what it provides. Four ladies escape from England to Italy on a month's holiday. They escape from their husbands, their families, their totally respectable yet clearly unsatisfying (whether clear or unclear to them, it's totally clear to the audience) lives. It's very easy to see why this would make a great film: the story is visually striking, with huge, obvious set pieces (big black wet London vs. sunlit, blooming Italian castle) and dec More...

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