The Enchanted April

A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed.

The women at the center of The Enchanted April are alike only in their dissatisfaction with their everyday lives. They find each other—and the castle of their dreams—through a classified ad in a London newspaper one rainy February afternoon. The ladies expect a pleasant holiday, but they don’t anticipate that the month they spend in Portofino will reintroduce them to their true natures and reacquaint them with joy. Now, if the same transformation can be worked on their husbands and lovers, the enchantment will be complete.

The Enchanted April was a best-seller in both England and the United States, where it was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and set off a craze for tourism to Portofino. More recently, the novel has been the inspiration for a major film and a Broadway play.

Publishers Weekly

Four Englishwomen vacation together at an Italian castle in von Arnim's novel, a film version of which is now a popular art-house attraction. (Nov.)

Elizabeth von Arnim (1866—1941) was born Mary Annette Beauchamp in Sydney, Australia. Her first book, the autobiographical novel Elizabeth and Her German Garden–inspired by the grounds of the estate she shared with her husband, Count Henning August von Arnim–was an enormous success. After the death of her first husband, Elizabeth married Francis the second Earl Russell, brother of Bertrand Russell. It was a disastrous marriage and the two eventually separated. Von Arnim moved to the US at the start of World War II, and spent her final years there.

Cathleen Schine has received wide acclaim for her five previous novels: Alice in Bed, To the Birdhouse, The Evolution of Jane, and the international bestsellers Rameau's Niece and The Love Letter, both of which were made into feature films. She lives in New York City.