The Solitary Summer is a sequel to von Arnim's Elizabeth and Her German Garden, and just as good. The title is a little misleading because solitary in this case means that the family did not invite visitors to stay, which invariably they would have for several weeks. Elizabeth wanted a summer with her garden, books, babies and husband.

von Arnim's prose and descriptions are just lovely. Interspersed with descriptions of her garden, she describes the daily life of the then German countryside (I think it's now located in Poland), near the Baltic Sea.

Though slightly saccharine, nice descriptions of nature and a true sense of pleasure.

A companion to Elizabeth and Her German Garden about the protagonist's desire and attempt to spend the whole summer alone in her garden. Our old favourites appear, the affectionately portrayed Man of Wrath and the barely distinguishable April, May and June babies, but some new characters appear too, such as a soldier Elizabeth does her best to avoid. I found this work darker than German Garden, her description of the poverty and ignorance in the village I found slightly disturbing; yet it was useful to compare woman's position in turn of the century Germany throughout the classes.