Kathy Hamilton “The Enchanted April” by Elizabeth von Arnim is exactly as magical as its title suggests. But, much like folklore, there is also the threat of April’s capricious rain on the horizon. What emerges is a novel that is stronger for its deftly deployed shade. It’s certainly one of the best books I’ve read in a while, and since it’s April it seemed fitting to share my review today!
I’ve noticed a pattern in my reading recently. I am drawn to books that are slight of plot on the surface but that reveal hidden depths once started. “The Enchanted April” by Elizabeth von Arnim is a perfect example of this. On the surface, this is a novel about four women who are (almost) strangers renting a castle in Italy for a month. In the hands of another author, I’m tempted to think that it would have been a pleasant, but ultimately forgettable tale.
But this is Elizabeth von Arnim we’re talking about. She’s a master at noticing the tiny details in people. Those small human failings that make us interesting, like selfishness and pettiness. And in “The Enchanted April”, probably her most well-known novel, she lets her talent for characterisation take flight. The result is at once a sun-washed fairytale and an insightful meditation on the transformative power of travel and women discovering their place in a new world.
“Now she had taken off her goodness and left it behind her like a heap of rain-sodden clothes, and she only felt joy.”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, The Enchanted April
Published in 1922, this is a novel that takes place in a world that is trying to re-understand itself. The catastrophes of WWI and the flu epidemic had decimated families and fractured society in the UK. The accepted order of things had been swept away (possibly for the better) but had left a chasm in its wake.
This is the space we find out four main characters, women of varying ages, occupying. All four women have, in their own way, conformed to society’s expectations of them. But now that the society that placed these expectations on them has been altered, each finds themselves unsatisfied with their allotted roles. Unable to name this dissatisfaction, each finds themselves drawn to the escape that the castle in Italy offers.
And Lottie, Rose, Scrap and Mrs. Fisher are definitely in need of escape. Lottie, to escape a drab life as an overlooked wife. Rose, a fractured relationship. Mrs. Fisher, the empty echoes of her past. And beautiful Scrap, who finds herself chafing at the idea of becoming a wife and fearful that her society life is an empty and hollow facade.
In making the decision to travel alone, each woman becomes the agent of her own life for the first time. Rather than an object. This was something that really struck me. In Scrap, we can see it most obviously. Her refusal to accept being ogled or “grabbed at” as she describes it, by men who only see her beauty is a rejection of objectification. But in the others, it is still there. I think the quote above sums it up. It is only by shaking off their “goodness” that these women become free to be whole people.
She stared. Such beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it. Her face was bathed in light.”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, The Enchanted April
If the four women in “The Enchanted April” by Elizabeth von Arnim are in need of a transformation, it is the setting which enables it. Italy comes to life in the pages of this book. And Elizabeth von Arnim’s description of spring gardens is enough to make you want to dance in wisteria.
The setting, in keeping with the fairytale-like nature of the book, almost seems magical. Or at least imbued with life-giving properties. Lottie is most convinced of this. And also undergoes the most instant transformation. It is as though a weighted cloak has been lifted from her. Her true character blossoms amongst the spring flowers and she becomes the driving force of the novel.
As a fan of travel, something I have often thought is that being in a new setting releases you. Since you are amongst unfamiliar but usually stimulating settings you can cast off elements of your life that dissatisfy you and indulge in the freedom of being a traveller. Elizabeth von Arnim perfectly encapsulated this feeling for me. Most importantly, her characters come to appreciate it too.
“How passionately she longed to be important to somebody again – not important on platforms, not important as an asset in an organisation, but privately important, just to one other person, quite privately, nobody else to know or notice. It didn’t seem much to ask in a world so crowded with people, just to have one of them, only one out of all the millions to oneself. Somebody who needed one, who thought of one, who was eager to come to one – oh, oh how dreadfully one wanted to be precious.”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, The Enchanted April
One of the most brilliant elements of “The Enchanted April” by Elizabeth von Arnim is that it manages to be a determinedly positive book. However, despite its positivity, it isn’t afraid to show the fears of each character. Loneliness, emptiness and lack of fulfilment are tackled head-on, as in the quote above. In a world where nothing feels certain anymore, this book describes how four very different women (and their men) come together to create a new kind of family.
If you’ve ever frequented the #bookstagram tag on Instagram, you’ll know that every April this book starts popping up in photos. Now I know why. There is peace to be found in its pages. Sometimes we all need a gentle novel about the gradual changes people can make when given the opportunity to thrive. In “The Enchanted April” by Elizabeth von Arnim, we have just that.
