Category: Reading Challenges

Book Review: The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin

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The Enchanted April 2About the Book

Four very different women respond to an advertisement in The Times appealing to “those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine” to rent a small medieval Italian castle for a month.

Mrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot, the original two respondents, are joined in their act of escape by the youthful Lady Caroline, whose beauty and general melodiousness have become something of a burden to her, and the formidable Mrs Fisher, who insists that everyone think of her “just as an old lady with a stick” as she sets about imposing her will on the rest. Each one is vaguely unsatisfied with their lot and Mrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot both have marriages of quiet English unhappiness.

The climate and the castle eventually start to have an effect on the four women. Their perceptions shift and they wake up to the love in their lives.

Format: ebook (247 pp.)    Publisher:
Published: 19th May 2016  [1922] Genre: Fiction, Modern Classics

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Enchanted April on Goodreads

My Review

The Enchanted April was the book selected from my Classics Club list for the latest Classics Club spin.  Find out what others have been reading by following the hashtag #ccspin on Twitter.

In The Enchanted April, the author depicts a particular social milieu (none of the four women are employed or completely financially independent) and presents a gently mocking view of their petty squabbles over sitting rooms, seating arrangements and personal space when they finally arrive at San Salvatore.  Incidentally, I felt sorry for the servants, especially Francesco and Domenico, having to deal with the demands and changing moods of their ‘four mistresses’.  There’s also some humour directed at the English abroad, including their complete reliance on people from other countries to speak English…and at Italian plumbing.

Of the four female characters, some were definitely more likeable than others, although all were more likeable than the men (with the possible exception of Thomas Briggs).  I liked Lotty’s (Mrs. Wilkins) instinct for other people’s moods and needs, and her immediate response to the uplifting atmosphere of San Salvatore.  I certainly don’t think she deserved the pompous Mr. Wilkins, who’s always on the lookout for people with ‘troubles’.  ‘Trouble here, trouble here, thought Mr. Wilkins, mentally rubbing his professional hands… Well, he was the man for trouble.  He regretted, of course, that people should get into it, but being in, he was their man.’ The most sympathetic figure for me was definitely Rose (Mrs. Arbuthnot) although, again, I’m not sure her husband quite deserved her patience and admiration.

There are some particularly lovely descriptions of the gardens and scenery surrounding the castle, conjuring up a picture of a magical location.  ‘Presently the tamarisk and the daphnes were at their best, and the lilies at their tallest.  By the end of the week the fig-trees were giving shade, the plum blossom was out among the olives, the modest weigelias appeared in their fresh plink clothes, and on the rocks sprawled masses of thick-leaved, star-shaped flowers, some vivid purple and some a clear, pale lemon.’

I think we all know what a positive effect natural beauty and the outdoors can have on our mood so perhaps it’s unsurprising that it has the same effect on the foursome. At the end of the book, all the characters have been changed by their time in San Salvatore, whether that’s discovering or re-discovering love and friendship.  Are they all nicer people as a result?  Possibly. But at the very least they have it within their power to become so.

The Enchanted April delivers a joyful message about the impact the beauty of the natural world can have on people, their outlook and relationships, and the possibility of second chances.

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In three words: Joyful, humorous, acutely-observed

Try something similar…In A German Pension: 13 Stories by Katherine Mansfield (read my review here)

Elizabeth von ArminAbout the Author

Elizabeth, Countess Russell, was a British novelist and, through marriage, a member of the German nobility, known as Mary Annette Gräfin von Arnim.  Born Mary Annette Beauchamp in Sydney, Australia, she was raised in England and in 1891 married Count Henning August von Arnim, a Prussian aristocrat, and the great-great-great-grandson of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. She had met von Arnim during an Italian tour with her father. They married in London but lived in Berlin and eventually moved to the countryside where, in Nassenheide, Pomerania, the von Arnims had their family estate. The couple had five children, four daughters and a son. The children’s tutors at Nassenheide included E. M. Forster and Hugh Walpole.

In 1898 she started her literary career by publishing Elizabeth and Her German Garden, a semi-autobiographical novel about a rural idyll published anonymously and, as it turned out to be highly successful, reprinted 21 times within the first year. Von Arnim wrote another 20 books, which were all published “By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden”.

Count von Arnim died in 1910, and in 1916 Elizabeth married John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, Bertrand Russell’s elder brother. The marriage ended in disaster, with Elizabeth escaping to the United States and the couple finally agreeing, in 1919, to get a divorce. She also had an affair with H. G. Wells.

Elizabeth von Arnim spent her old age in London, Switzerland, and on the French Riviera. When World War II broke out she permanently took up residence in the United States, where she died in 1941, aged 74. (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

Buchan of the Month/Book Review: The Three Hostages by John Buchan

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buchan of the month 2019 poster

20190510_130630-1About the Book

After the war and newly knighted, Richard Hannay is living peacefully in the Cotswolds with his wife, Mary, and son, Peter John.

Unfortunately, a day arrives when three separate visitors tell him of three children being held hostage by a secret kidnapper. All three seem to lead back to a man named Dominick Medina, a popular Member of Parliament.

Hannay uncovers a dastardly plot involving hypnotism and the black arts, as well as the more earthly crimes of blackmail and profiteering.

Format: Hardcover (379 pp.)    Publisher: Thomas Nelson & Son
Published: [1924]   Genre: Crime, Mystery

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Three Hostages on Goodreads

My Review

The Three Hostages is the fifth book in my Buchan of the Month reading project for 2019.  You can find out more about the project and my reading list for 2019 here.  You can also read my spoiler-free introduction to The Three Hostages here.

In The Three Hostages, John Buchan puts into the mouth of one of the characters (Dr. Greenslade) what was very likely his own recipe for creating his adventure stories (or what he termed his ‘shockers’).

“Look here. I want to write a shocker, so I begin by fixing on one or two facts which have no sort of connection… You invent a connection – simple enough if you have any imagination – and you weave all three into a yarn.  The reader, who knows nothing about the three at the start, is puzzled and intrigued and, if the story is well arranged, finally satisfied.  He is pleased with the ingenuity of the solution, for he doesn’t realise that the author fixed upon the solution first, and then invented a problem to suit it.’

Indulging in a further in-joke at his own expense, Buchan has Dr. Greenslade glance at the detective novel his friend, Hannay, has been reading and remarks, “I can read most things…but it beats me how you can waste time over such stuff.  These shockers are too easy, Dick.  You could invent better ones for yourself.’   As it happens, the three facts Greenslade gives as examples turn out to have more relevance than he initially realises and provide part of the key to the ensuing mystery.

What I particularly enjoyed about The Three Hostages is the prominent role given to Hannay’s wife, Mary (whom the reader – and Hannay – first encountered in Mr.Standfast).   John Buchan was not known for creating credible or positive female characters but I think Mary is the exception in this book.  She comes across as bright, brave and as equally adept at intrigue as her husband, as well as acting as his conscience.  It is Mary who encourages Hannay to take up the search for the three hostages when he is initially disinclined to get involved and sustains him with the thought of what is at stake when he becomes discouraged with progress.

In The Three Hostages, Buchan also has some interesting and quite prescient things to say about the power of propaganda, or what we might term today ‘fake news’.  At one point, Hannay’s old police chum, Macgillivray, remarks, ‘Dick, have you ever considered what a diabolical weapon [propaganda] can be – using all the channels of modern publicity to poison and warp men’s minds.  It is the most dangerous thing on earth. You can use it cleanly…but you can also use it to establish the most damnable lies.’  

The Three Hostages also sees the welcome return of other supporting characters from previous Hannay adventures, such as Sandy Arbuthnot and Archie Roylance.   Less attractive, certainly to modern day readers, is some of the crude racial stereotyping that Buchan puts into the thoughts of his character, Richard Hannay.  There is also use of the ‘n’ word in one particular scene that I found unpalatable.

Despite the reservations just mentioned, The Three Hostages is certainly an entertaining and well-paced mystery.  It builds to a dramatic final reckoning between Hannay and the villain on a Scottish mountainside, in which Buchan’s own knowledge of – and fondness for – mountaineering and deer-stalking is put to good use. All in all, the book is a great example of John Buchan’s ability to create an exciting story line.

June’s Buchan of the Month will be The Dancing Floor. Look out for my spoiler free introduction to the book shortly and my review towards the end of the month.

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In three words: Pacy, adventure, mystery

Try something similar: Mr. Standfast by John Buchan (read my review here)

John BuchanAbout the Author

John Buchan (1875 – 1940) was an author, poet, lawyer, publisher, journalist, war correspondent, Member of Parliament, University Chancellor, keen angler and family man.  He was ennobled and, as Lord Tweedsmuir, became Governor-General of Canada.  In this role, he signed Canada’s entry into the Second World War.   Nowadays he is probably best known – maybe only known – as the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps.  However, in his lifetime he published over 100 books: fiction, poetry, short stories, biographies, memoirs and history.

You can find out more about John Buchan, his life and literary output by visiting The John Buchan Society website.

buchan of the month 2019