The Enchanted April

Beguiling, witty, and gently comedic, The Enchanted April tells the tale of four very different women who escape dreary London for an Italian castle in Portofino, shortly after World War I. Elizabeth von Arnim’s ageless novel compellingly responds to the eternal question of how to achieve happiness in life. An immediate best seller upon its first publication, the story of unlikely female friendship, newfound empowerment, rekindled love, and unexpected romance has been adapted for stage and screen, including a 1991 Oscar-nominated film, and a Tony-nominated play in 2003. This much-beloved book appeals to anyone who appreciates the sly charm of Downton Abbey and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Elizabeth von Arnim (1866–1941) was an Australian-born writer who spent her life in Great Britain and Europe, where she married a German count, raised five children, had an affair with H. G. Wells, and published more than twenty enormously successful books. The cousin of Katherine Mansfield, von Arnim was a member of a literary circle that included Hugh Walpole, E. M. Forster, George Bernard Shaw, and others. She died in 1941 in Charleston, South Carolina.