The Enchanted April

2018 Reprint of 1922 Edition. The Enchanted April, written in 1922, is Elizabeth von Armin’s most charming novel in every sense: it casts a spell. In narrative terms, it’s slight: a sun-washed fairytale, delicious in its contrivance. But it’s also a paean to the transformative power of travel. 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. Von Arnim has an eye for small human failings, the little acts of pettiness and selfishness in which most people indulge. She is perceptive about the way people misread one another’s good (and not so good) intentions, and the early chapters read like a comedy of miscommunication. 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.