The Enchanted April

By: Elizabeth von Arnim

Narrated by: Eleanor Bron

It began in a women's club in London on a February afternoon. A discreet advertisement in The Times, addressed to "Those who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine..." lures four very different women away from the dismal British weather to San Salvatore, a castle high above a bay on the sunny Italian Riviera. There, the Mediterranean spirit stirs the souls of Mrs Arbuthnot, Mrs Wilkins, Lady Caroline Dester, and Mrs Fisher, and remarkable changes occur.

©1922 Elizabeth von Arnim (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Delightful classic

Great story, great narration.

Such a refreshing change from all the hatefulness we are being bombarded by in our world today.

Love is what we all need. The lack of it makes us small, mean, and selfish. By love this book is not limited to couples. We all need to give love to someone whether a mate, child, friend, anyone. It makes us a better and nicer person.

When you put yourself first you are miserable and you make all around you miserable.

Delightful story

I throughly enjoyed this book by audible. The story uplifting and the commentary by the characters witty. It makes me want to go to Italy in April.

enchanting 😍

The characters, the setting, the conversations and the reactions what a wonderful book!! I loved it.

Un’evasione dello mente durante il lockdown

Me lo ha consigliato una lettrice raffinata che considera la lettura il paradiso in terra e il posto che salva quattro donne di tre generazioni diverse da una grigia e piovosa Londra è proprio un angolo di paradiso, nascosto sulle alture della Liguria di Levante: un castello con un giardino meraviglioso. Sono le cure sapienti di Domenico aiutato dal nipote a permettere a una varietà infinita di specie vegetali di fiorire e diffondere effluvi profumati e a rendere il giardino il Luogo di Redenzione per eccellenza: le tensioni si sciolgono, i dolori si sgretolano e malumori si dissolvono: la routinaria vita precedente perde di senso. Perché San Salvatore - questo il nome del castello a picco sul mare , un nome che evoca dunque il potere salvifico del luogo - crea un prima e un dopo. E se il grigio fumo di Londra viene spazzato via dalla luce di un cielo che più azzurro non si può, concludendo il capitolo 22 quel il ‘dopo’ possiamo solo immaginarlo, riandando con la memoria alle commedie di Marivaux dove le coppie nel gran finale si compongono o ricompongono una congeniale armonia.

Wonderful Escape

This book was so entertaining. Light and refreshing and exactly what I needed given the reality of our world today. Encourages the reader to appreciate what life has to offer.

Eleanor Bron never fails you

Audible has found the best narrator for this book, for she has indeed an enchanted voice to bring the Enchanted April to life. Any other reader is simply unimaginable.
On the face of it, it’s just another cozy, middle/upper middle-class story. There is more to it, however. It’s more about women and their self-perception in my view. Back in London both of them have a somewhat unhappy, if not absolutely unsatisfactory, married/ widowed/aristocratic life respectively which makes them desperate for a holiday in Italy where a sunny, warm or as the title suggests an enchanted April will embrace them. And, in the end, this short stay in the foreign land does in a sense make their life better. Mrs Collins and Mrs Arbuthnot represent innumerable women who busy themselves being daughters, wives, mothers or any other roles the patriarchal society entrusts them to be, the single most important thing they forget doing is being the Self. Fortunately, this holiday wakes them up, especially Mrs Collins who in her husband’s eyes is dim-lighted and boring but actually quite intelligent, worldly and quite pleasant. The well-read, well-informed, well-off and well-connected old lady seems to me the best exemplar of how second-hand life experiences fail to make you a better person. Put it more simply, to learn from others isn’t to copy them.

unexpected & lovely

well worth the listen. great characters, beautiful setting. there was a while in middle that I wondered if i would like it afterall, but then I found the pattern and the pacing easy and I could relax into the enfoldment like Mrs. Wilkins 😊💕

Why isn’t their a prologue?

Why isn’t their a prologue to this lovely story of hope and love, a message so needed in today’s world?

Great story

Better than the movie, more character development. Good to have seen the movie for visuals.

A Perfect Reading by Eleanor Bron

Eleanor Bron could not have been better suited for reading this lovely novel. The quiet calm of her voice complemented the quiet calm of the magical workings of the sun filled villa.

A delight for any listener.

And three cheers for happy endings!