Four women spontaneously rent a castle in Italy for the month of April. Two of them are distant acquaintances, but other than that, they don't know each other. They are all displeased with their lives, and need a break. Away from everything they know, they get the chance to think things over, to come back to their true selves, as it were.

And the little castle, San Salvatore, seems to be just what they need. It is a place of healing. I would have loved to say that this story has a strong sense of place, but it falls a bit short of that. We don't really get to know the surrounding area, and the castle itself, although it's rooms are described, are not really that distinct. It is a sunny place, by the sea, with lots of flowers. It does sound lovely, but it doesn't have all that much personality.

This is first and foremost a character study.

First we meet Lotty, who is afraid of her husband, almost harassed by him, and since he believes she's a fool, she doesn't have much confidence. Away from their normal lives, however, she gets to flourish. She is quite sensitive, and good at reading people.

Mrs. Fisher, the elderly widow, is caught up in what is proper and decent, and judges people all day long. It takes a long time for her to "fall under the spell of San Salvatore" as Lotty puts it, and open up. But when she starts to question herself, and her own feelings, she too, starts to change and develop.

Mrs. Fisher was upset. There were many things she disliked more than anything else, and one was when the elderly imagined they felt young and behaved accordingly. Of course they only imagined it, they were only deceiving themselves; but how deplorable were the results. She herself had grown old as people should grow old, - steadily and firmly. [...] If, after all these years, she were now going to be deluded into some sort of unsuitable breaking-out, how humiliating.

Lady Caroline Dester is exhausted. She is rich and beautiful, and therefore people won't leave her alone. All she wants is silence and solitude - like a true introvert. But when she finally have time to think, to be herself, without other people's opinions on her obscuring her view of herself - what kind of a person is she, really? Now that she has her much longed for peace and quiet, she can finally find out.

And lastly, there's Rose Artbuthnot, who's very religious, and doesn't approve of what her estranged husband does for a living. She herself lives by the virtue of self-sacrifice, and feels guilty for even coming along. But her faith and her principles have failed to make her happy, so here she is.

Lotty is the most perceptive of them by far, and once she gains a little confidence, she says things as she sees them:

"Why, we've got positively nothing to do here, either of us, except just being happy. You wouldn't believe," she said, turning her head and speaking straight to Mrs. Fisher, portions of orange in either hand, "how terribly good Rose and I have been for years without stopping, and how much now we need a perfect rest."

A fresh, new environment does allow you to see your life from the outside. To question both yourself and the people in your life - how you treat them and how they treat you. The Enchanted April describes this well, the characters have a lot of psychological depth, tempered with a big dose of charm and humor.

This book didn't blow me away, but it was sweet, and it had a lot of charm.

n  Some say that a person becomes his circumstances. Or, at least, that someone's circumstances make them who they are.n Because it's enough to only thrust someone into an unfamiliar, different environment, and they seem to become a whole different person. n  Have you had this happen to you? Have you ever felt how when you go on vacation, you're suddenly so much more emotionally stable, mature and perhaps more like you've always wanted to be?n Or is it the contrary – maybe you're prone to wandering around aimlessly, without knowing what your days are even supposed to be about now, now that you don't have the routine of work around you, so handy in grounding you and helping you remember who you are? n  So it's just like I said, your circumstances make a great part of who you are, whether you're consciously aware of this or not. And in a way, this is what The Enchanted April is about – among other things.n

n  The Enchanted April is about four women who could not possibly be any more different from each other, getting put in the same, let's say, somewhat heavenly circumstances of a spring in an Italian castle in the countryside.n Each has her own emotional baggage – and make of that what you will. Some of them will instantly clue into what's happening to themselves and others. Some will keep trying to lie to even their very own selves for a long as possible – to maintain the status quo. What follows is a colorful dance of coincidences, emotions and conclusions. n  The Enchanted April is an incredible window into the condition of having a human soul and learning to figure out how to use one without a manual. With a couple of laughs along the way.n

To read the full review, visit my blog here.

n  n

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The Enchanted April is a comedy in the true tradition of Shakespeare. Though written as a novel, it has been easily converted to a play and a film. It is a book about time and place and the effects that those things have on our thoughts and deeds. As the book begins we find ourselves in London on a cold and wet winter day post-World War One. We quickly meet Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot who both are members of a “women’s club” that serves as a refuge when they are out and about fulfilling their duties and chores.

Both women chance to see an advertisement in The Times concerning an Italian villa (castle) that could be rented for the month of April. Each finds herself unusually drawn to the possibility, and with Mrs. Wilkins' initiative, they form a friendship and write for further particulars. We are taken through the thoughts of both women leading up to the trip and during the month at San Salvatore.

The author offers us a study of character and mores at a time in England when the Church of England was coping with the stirrings of gender emancipation and women were considering how they might have a life beyond “God, Husband, Home and Duty.”

The other two women are a study in contrasts. The young and beautiful one (Lady Caroline), for whom everything has been easy and there has been no need to consider others. And, the quite old one (Mrs. Fisher), for whom the past and her encounters with the intellectual and the famous dominate any conversation in which she participates. None of the women are friends before agreeing to take together this April retreat to an Italian villa. We get to see them evolve in Italy both through their conversations and their innermost thoughts.

There is both advantage and disadvantage in viewing this from about 100 years distant. It gives one the perspective of where things would be going socially and culturally, but it also tends to temper the immediacy of those issues of gender, class and religion that were so important then. This is much the same reaction that I have to reading G.B. Shaw.

I thoroughly enjoyed my re-immersion in this story. It managed to do its magic on me very much like the villa was able to work its enchantment on these characters.

(This book has been republished many times since its initial date in 1922. I acquired the illustrated Kindle edition. It has the most inviting drawing on the cover and the other illustrations were helpful in showing the regional charm that served as a background to the story.)

I hadn’t heard of this classic gem until a review for it popped up in my Facebook group. It turned out to be a fun & quick read, a pleasant surprise.

Story:

Lottie Wilkins spots an advert in The Times, promoting a holiday in a medieval Italian castle for “those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine”. Fed up of her daily routine and boring marriage, she decides to use her nest egg and go for a month-long holiday in this castle. She can’t afford it on her own, but fate puts her in the path of three more ladies who are eager to make their escape from the dreary April in London. Under the Mediterranean sun, these four ladies, who are distinct from each other in almost every way, find themselves slowly breaking their shells and bonding with each other, finding unexpected friends amid strangers.

Where the book truly shines is in its characters. The four ladies who go on holiday are the four main characters in the book. In addition, there are two husbands, one owner of the castle, and two castle servants who come in the storyline randomly. All of these eight characters are so wonderfully well-sketched that you will be able to understand their thoughts and motivations and believe their character turnarounds when they occur. Lottie is the timid one who discovers her inner strength in Italy. Rose Arbuthnot is a religious person who believes any extravagance to be against the will of God. Mrs. Fisher is a snooty widow who believes that the past was much better than the present. Lady Caroline Dester is the typical gorgeous rich socialite with one exception: she is fed up of the male attention and wants to be away from those dazed by her beauty. The way the author has woven these four disparate women seamlessly and realistically makes for an enjoyable reading.

The story is insightful and witty at the same time. Considering that it was written almost a hundred years ago, in 1922, some of the content is a little dated. But to an intelligent reader, the book will still offer a lot of points to ponder upon.

The writing style is the only minor flaw. The content sometimes sounds a little repetitive as the author tends to use the same words again and again, sometimes within the same paragraph. Some sentences are duplicated within a same chapter, a few paras later. This becomes more obvious when you are listening to the book. I’m not saying that the writing is bad. On the contrary, it is quite intelligent. While depicting Mrs Fisher, for instance, the words become pompous. For Mrs. Wilkins, the words are utterly simple. That proves the author’s prowess. I guess the recurrence of the phrases just indicates the natural and genuine writing flow in the days before Microsoft Word, online thesauruses and other editing tools available to the writers of today.

All said and done, this book is a classic for a reason. Its content and writing flow won’t suit everyone. At the same time, it is not as heavy on the head as some classics are. So if you want to begin with classic novels, this could be a wonderful one to start off with. If you are a classics fan, don’t read this book looking for the classy style of a Jane Austen; you will be a teeny bit disappointed. Just read it as a historical women’s fiction and you will enjoy the book.

My rating: 4.5.

If you are an audiobook fan, you can give a try to the audio version by Helen Taylor. This narrator is a joy to listen to with her pitch-perfect enunciation and mellifluous voice. As the book is in the public domain, this audio is available for free on Librivox. Make sure you go for the Helen Taylor version; the other narration isn’t so great.


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n  "She stared. Such beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it."n

I think I ended up loving it even more on this re-read.
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The joy of re-visiting a lovely book. I initially heard of this title over 25 years ago and then, in 2015, Waterstones picked it for their month’s choice and brought it back to my attention. The serendipity of it :O)

A discreet advertisement in the Times, addressed to “those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine”, is the prelude to a revelatory month for four very different women, who each crave respite from real life. Lulled by the gentle spirit of the Mediterranean, they gradually shed their public skins, discovering a harmony each of them had longed for but none had ever known.

Doesn’t sound like much, but this turned out to be a little gem, that I loved to re-visit. The beauty of it was in its narration and characters. The voices were brilliant, and yes, often very funny. Delightful :0)

n  "What is rather silly," said Mrs. Wilkins with much serenity, "is to mind. I can't see the least point in being in authority at the price of one's liberty."
n

John Steinbeck said, at the beginning of his book, Travels with Charley: In Search of America, that "...we do not take a trip; a trip takes us." I was reminded of that quote so many times while escaping to Italy in this wonderful book.

I don't think the power of a trip such as the one these four women took can be overestimated. We see in the novel how their lives were all transformed as a result. It's a pleasant story, but I think as women, as the primary (in most cases) caretakers of our homes and families, we all owe it to ourselves (and to our families) to take a trip like this, to go away by ourselves and rediscover ourselves. I can think of no human being who would not benefit from such an experience.

I took off a couple of months after my only child went away to college, just escaped to the mountains for a couple of weeks. I needed to do it. That trip changed me, and I've wanted a repeat ever since (only this time, I'd like to take a month, as these women did!)

This novel hit all of my happy places. I was dying to know how it ended, while at the same time never wanting it to end, not wanting to leave the gorgeous castle in Italy in the spring. There were a few little love stories that I wasn't expecting. The characters, particularly the four women, became real, and I grew to like them all. Her prose put me right there, feeling the sun on my face, and smelling the flowers all around me, even watching the moon at night, as the lights came on down in the village below.

This was a fantastic escape read, and I highly recommend it. I'm adding it to my favorites shelf.

ETA: I feel the audio narration really enhanced this book. I couldn't have asked for a better performance by Eleanor Bron.

'Have you noticed how difficult it is to be improper without men?'

Light and glamorous, The Enchanted April is an immersive testimony to the transformative power of peace and natural beauty. And a holiday, of course.

Saturated with wit and warm humour, von Arnim’s novel offers a reader perfect escapism, just as she offers to her richly drawn characters. None is devoid of charm, but perhaps the most wonderful are the dishevelled but perceptive Lotty, and the bored, beautiful Caroline. In fact, this is very much a character study, combining profound layers of observation with nostalgia, regret and, at last, hope. Each of the four central women are quietly dissatisfied with their lives, each miserable and lonely in her own way. One by one, they succumb to the stunning ambience of the Italian Riviera and find their spirits stir and revive.

The novel is also an interesting, and somewhat contradicting, commentary on marital obligations. Von Arnim herself was married no fewer than five times which is perhaps enlightening to learn before embarking upon The Enchanted April. The women who are most desperate to get away from soggy London, and evidently the most miserable, are coincidentally the only two to have husbands. Both Lotty and Rose are estranged from and subservient to their respective spouse. Von Arnim even discloses that Lotty is afraid of Mr Wilkins. The reader is overjoyed when Lotty and Rose secure their trip to paradise (sans husbands) but then quite possibly confused and even angry at their following actions. Invite your husband then, why don’t you?! But The Enchanted April is a celebration of charity and goodness, if in moderation. Ultimately, this apparent contradiction within the novel agitates me slightly: the outset is promising, being almost vaguely feminist. It does, however, never quite fulfill what it may well have offered in this facet - perhaps that’s why Rebecca West was a tad condescending of Von Arnim? (Or was it their rivalry over H. G. Wells?!)

A little more saccharine than what I would usually reach for, but a spoonful of sugar does indeed make the medicine go down. Sensual and engrossing. Now it’s back to grey and humid London for me.

Utterly charming. Somehow this manages to be romantically perfumed without being cloying. A welcome respite from the real world.

4.5 stars

3.5 ⭐️

Една от онези книги, които като видиш и искаш да четеш веднага, за да се пренесеш в замъка с глициниите край Портофино

Comfort reading at it's best.
Lotty is tired of dreary London, so when she reads an advert in The Times, for 'people who appreciate Wisteria and sunshine' she longs to be able to rent out the Castle being advertised. She finds three other ladies to share the rent and off they go for the month of April. The beauty of the place works a kind of magic on them all.
This book is so evocative I felt as though I was there with them, as such, it's a book I love to read in the winter as it reminds me that better things are just around the corner.

Re-read on 20/02/25. It has been so cold for so long, I felt I needed some warmth in my life. This certainly did the trick.

Oh my goodness. What dear, sweet, charming book! I loved it so much! In fact, it is one of my favorite new-to-me reads of the year so far!

Back in the 1920s (when this was written), four women from London travel to an Italian castle, San Salvatore, in search of rest and a chance to get away from their troubles. Instead, they find joy, love, and peace. In seeking to escape their troubles, they each come to realize that they are the source of their worst troubles. When they learn to lay down their inner hindrances and become more their true selves, they each blossom into new and happier people, one after the other.

The castle's name, San Salvatore, means savior in Italian. Lottie repeatedly refers to it as heaven, and I think you could read this whole book as an allegory if you wanted to. By coming to faith in Christ and being near him, we find joy, love, and peace, and shed our worldly troubles as we learn to put off our old selves and become more Christlike. This makes us new and happier people. Whether von Arnim meant this as an allegory or not, I don't know, but she certainly chose the name San Salvatore on purpose -- even if just to signify that their time there saved these four women in various ways from the troubles that bedeviled them before.

This book sat on my TBR shelves for over a year before the #kindredspiritnetwork chose it as the read-along book this month. It was exactly the book I needed to read right now, and I'm so happy I could discuss it with other lovely bookstagrammers! If you're looking for a bright, cheerful, uplifting read this spring, do yourself a favor and pick this up! It reminded me of A Room with a View melded with The Blue Castle in a way.

Ingannevole è Aprile più di ogni cosa.

Oggi il cielo è azzurrissimo, terso, luminoso.
Probabilmente è lo stesso cielo che le quattro donne protagoniste del romanzo, Rose e Lotty, Mrs Fisher e Lady Caroline, hanno guardato a bocca aperta spalancando le finestre del castello di San Salvatore.
Ma partiamo dal principio, cioè da quando a Londra, in una giornata grigia e piovosa, la timida e insoddisfatta Lotty Wilkins legge sul Times l'annuncio dell'affitto del castello di San Salvatore in Liguria, per gli amanti del glicine e del sole recita l'annuncio, e vincendo il suo stesso impaccio, tanto forte è il desiderio di sottrarsi per un mese ad un ménage matrimoniale spento e insoddisfacente, propone a Rose Arbuthnot, sconosciuta frequentatrice del suo stesso club, di dividere le spese e partire con lei.
Non bisogna ignorare il fatto che il romanzo è scritto nel 1922 e che se oggi può apparire normale che due donne sposate decidano di "abbandonare" i mariti e regalarsi una vacanza in Italia, anche nella modernissima Londra è necessario ricorrere a qualche piccolo sotterfugio per vedere realizzato il proprio desiderio; piccoli inganni ai quali anche Lotty dovrà ricorrere, ma non Rose che, invece, annullata nel volontariato e assorbita da una fede bigotta, ha un matrimonio che marcia nel disinteresse di entrambi i coniugi su binari paralleli.
E così, una volta sistemati i mariti e trovate per mezzo di un altro annuncio sul Times l'anziana e nostalgica "dei tempi andati" Mrs. Fisher e la giovane e affascinante Lady Caroline con le quali dividere le spese per l'affitto, dalla piovosa Inghilterra, ci troviamo anche noi, come d'incanto, a spalancare le finestre sulla riviera ligure inondata di sole, colori e profumi.
Ed è lì, completamente rapite dalla bellezza della natura, estasiate dalla vista del mare, stordite da profumi inebrianti, sedotte da un tripudio di colori e dal continuo avvicendarsi di glicini rose e fiori mai visti prima, come l'albero di Giuda che ammanta la terra di petali color rosa intenso, che Lotty e Rose, Mrs. Fisher e Lady Caroline, iniziano lentamente a fare i conti con se stesse e a far pace con il proprio mondo, a partire da quello interiore.

È un romanzo in cui al silenzio esteriore, alla pace in cui si trovano immerse e assorte le quattro donne, si contrappone con intensità il brulichio dei pensieri di ciascuna di loro. Sembra quasi di sentire il ronzio delle loro menti, di vederne crescere, come fiori nei campi, il desiderio di pacificazione, di armonia e di vedere innaffiare, ogni giorno che passa, i teneri germogli che stanno spuntando.
Ed io, all'inizio, mi sono lasciata inebriare e convincere da questo potere della Natura, perché io stessa ne sono "vittima".
Quante volte davanti ad un tramonto, o sulla spiaggia delle Maldive dov'ero fuggita ormai più di quindici anni fa in cerca di silenzio e tranquillità, mi sono trovata ad abbeverarmi della bellezza che mi circonda e a dire a me stessa come si può essere infelici di fronte ad una spiaggia dalla sabbia bianca e finissima, ad un gatto che si rotola al sole, ad un campo di lavanda, al sole che si tuffa nel mare! Quante volte mi sono detta che se io amo il mondo, se io amo una persona, quella persona e il mondo non possono che ricambiare il mio amore?
Eppure non è così, non è vero, per questo credo che la bellezza della Natura sia ingannevole, per questo mi sento truffata.

Così, proseguendo nella lettura di «Un incantevole Aprile» in cui, invece, tutte le tessere del mosaico si incastrano alla perfezione ed ogni più piccola asperità viene levigata semplicemente grazie all'incanto del luogo, per contrapposizione - o per rappresaglia? - ho iniziato a pensare, e a ripetere tipo mantra a me stessa, in una mente che brulicava anch'essa di pensieri, che Aprile è il più crudele dei mesi e che non è affatto vero che la bellezza, che la Natura, sistema ogni cosa.
Al punto che sabato, nel consueto incontro con il mio psicoterapeuta, tra il racconto di un attacco di panico e di un sogno, gli ho parlato anche di questo.
Patrizia - mi ha detto - ma lei confonde la bellezza della Natura con la ricerca dell'armonia! La Natura per mostrarle la sua bellezza deve sottostare ad equilibri che, se li osserva bene, possono invece apparire crudeli, come quello del leone che sbrana una gazzella!
E allora, rabbrividendo al pensiero della povera gazzella, mi chiedo, come la mettiamo?
Quest'Aprile com'è, incantevole o crudele?

Alla fine penso che forse sia entrambe le cose, perché, ancora forse, per accettare che il leone sbrani la gazzella ho bisogno di vedere, come anche questa mattina sulla strada che da casa mi porta al lavoro in questa Roma ai margini, un volo di aironi sopra la mia auto, un volo che mi aiuta a credere che ad ogni Aprile crudele possa corrisponderne sempre, o quasi, uno incantevole.
E io, almeno per questa volta, ho deciso, di lasciarmi incantare ed ingannare.



Elizabeth von Arnim, il cui vero nome era Mary Annette Beauchamp era cugina di Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp.
Se penso ai racconti che ho letto della Mansfield e li confronto con questo romanzo della von Arnim, mi accorgo che entrambe fanno della Natura un protagonista aggiuntivo delle loro storie, ma se nella von Arnim la Natura agisce da elemento conciliatore, nella Mansfield è sempre spettatrice di un dramma interiore celato.
Come dire che se la visione della vita della von Arnim era romantica (ma avrò bisogno di leggere altro di quest'autrice per trovarne conferma) quella della Mansfield era di rassegnazione di fronte all'ineluttabile crudeltà della vita stessa.
Chissà se la Mansfield, appena un anno prima che la sua giovane vita venisse stroncata, aveva letto e condiviso «Terra desolata» di Eliot piuttosto che "Un incantevole Aprile" di sua cugina Mary Annette? E la von Arnim, aveva letto Eliot? Ed Eliot aveva letto la Mansfield e la von Arnim?

Aprile è il più crudele dei mesi, genera
Lillà da terra morta, confondendo
Memoria e desiderio, risvegliando
Le radici sopite con la pioggia della primavera.
L'inverno ci mantenne al caldo, ottuse
Con immemore neve la terra, nutrì
Con secchi tuberi una vita misera.

(Thomas Stearns Eliot)