Drei kleine englische Mädchen zwischen fünf und sieben Jahren leben mit ihrer Mutter und ihrer französischen Gouvernante auf einem abgelegenen norddeutschen Gut. Als im April noch einmal das Thermometer weit nach unten sinkt, ist die Enttäuschung der kleinen Mädchen April, May und June groß und ihr Repertoire an Spielen im Haus rasch erschöpft. Die Mutter muß sich etwas einfallen lassen, um ihre Kleinen zu beschäftigen, zumindest deren Phantasie.
Elizabeth von Arnim, born Mary Annette Beauchamp, was an English novelist. Born in Australia, she married a German aristocrat, and her earliest works are set in Germany. Her first marriage made her Countess von Arnim-Schlagenthin and her second Elizabeth Russell, Countess Russell. After her first husband's death, she had a three-year affair with the writer H.G. Wells, then later married Earl Russell, elder brother of the Nobel prize-winner and philosopher Bertrand Russell. She was a cousin of the New Zealand-born writer Katherine Mansfield. Though known in early life as May, her first book introduced her to readers as Elizabeth, which she eventually became to friends and finally to family. Her writings are ascribed to Elizabeth von Arnim. She used the pseudonym Alice Cholmondeley for only one novel, Christine, published in 1917.