The Enchanted April - by Elizabeth Von Arnim (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The charming, slyly comic novel of romantic longing and transformation that inspired the Oscar-nominated film

Four very different women escape the monotony of dreary London for the sunshine of Italy in a medieval castle on the Mediterranean. As each blossoms in the warmth of the Italian spring, they encounter unexpected friendship, personal growth, and heartwarming romance.

An immediate bestseller upon its first publication in 1922, The Enchanted April set off a craze for tourism to the Italian Riviera that continues today. This witty ensemble piece explores new beginnings, happiness, and the power of nature.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Review Quotes

"This delicious confection will work its magic on all." --Daily Telegraph

"Extraordinarily well-written . . . It is witty, human, often very beautiful." --Punch

"Brims with magic and laughter." --The Guardian

"[One] of the wittiest novels in the English language . . . The ultimate renter's novel: a month in and out of a gorgeous place where extraordinary things happen; then let someone else deal with the plumbing . . . It's a confection, it's a dream, it's a fleeting April romance, but oh, how hard to get this story out of your head. . . . No one can come away from this April without thinking, even for just a moment, that the course of true love, unsmooth as it may run, is certainly worth taking." --Brenda Bowen, author of Enchanted August, from the Introduction

About the Author

Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941), a cousin of the writer Katharine Mansfield and a lover of H. G. Wells, wrote more than twenty books. Born in Australia, she spent most of her childhood in England and lived also in Germany, Switzerland, and France. She moved to the United States at the start of World War II and died in Charleston, South Carolina.

Brenda Bowen (introducer) is the author of the novel Enchanted August, a contemporary reimagining of The Enchanted April set in Maine. A former children's book publisher, and now a literary agent, she has written more than forty books under the name Margaret McNamara. She lives in New York.