'What a happy woman I am living in a garden, with books, babies, birds, and flowers, and plenty of leisure to enjoy them! Yet my town acquaintances look upon it as imprisonment, and burying, and I don't know what besides, and would rend the air with their shrieks if condemned to such a life. Sometimes I feel as if I were blest above all my fellows in being able to find my happiness so easily.'
I really enjoyed this, which I have in a 1990 Virago Modern Classic with the proper green cover, rather than the new edition with the, to my mind, rather unsuitable picture of the back of a semi-clad woman; I doubt I would have bought that edition, it gives completely the wrong impression of what the book is about! However, even so, it wasn't quite what I expected.
I thought it would be reminiscent of Vita Sackville-West's garden writing, which I love, full of information about gardening and plants. Von Arnim's book isn't like that at all; it is an appreciation of the garden throughout a year and what it gives to Elizabeth who is, she openly admits, a novice gardener. It contains depictions of her life both in the garden and when she is forced, usually by houseguests, to be out of it. It is very funny in places and a large part of the book describes a visit from two very different women, her German friend Irais and Minora, an English girl whom she invited to stay over Christmas so she would not be on her own.
There are some wonderful scenes in the book, such as the description of the gardener who takes to gardening with a gun, causing Elizabeth wisely to stop reading to him from gardening books as he worked, the scene of her three year old attempting to herd some stray cows, or the quite excruciating description of Minora's tipsy attempt to flirt and dance with Elizabeth's husband, known in the book as the Man of Wrath. Luckily he does not live up to his name, but merely leaves the room in silence.
Elizabeth's attempts at gardening are of an experimetal nature; she is trying things out and finding what works, something which I can sympathise with, but mainly the garden is somewhere to be at peace away from the responsibility of the house - to take a book and her three 'babies' (who range from three to five) and sit. Most of all I enjoyed these gentle descriptions of a love of home. This is a book I could read and read again, and probably will.
I really enjoyed this, which I have in a 1990 Virago Modern Classic with the proper green cover, rather than the new edition with the, to my mind, rather unsuitable picture of the back of a semi-clad woman; I doubt I would have bought that edition, it gives completely the wrong impression of what the book is about! However, even so, it wasn't quite what I expected.
I thought it would be reminiscent of Vita Sackville-West's garden writing, which I love, full of information about gardening and plants. Von Arnim's book isn't like that at all; it is an appreciation of the garden throughout a year and what it gives to Elizabeth who is, she openly admits, a novice gardener. It contains depictions of her life both in the garden and when she is forced, usually by houseguests, to be out of it. It is very funny in places and a large part of the book describes a visit from two very different women, her German friend Irais and Minora, an English girl whom she invited to stay over Christmas so she would not be on her own.
There are some wonderful scenes in the book, such as the description of the gardener who takes to gardening with a gun, causing Elizabeth wisely to stop reading to him from gardening books as he worked, the scene of her three year old attempting to herd some stray cows, or the quite excruciating description of Minora's tipsy attempt to flirt and dance with Elizabeth's husband, known in the book as the Man of Wrath. Luckily he does not live up to his name, but merely leaves the room in silence.
Elizabeth's attempts at gardening are of an experimetal nature; she is trying things out and finding what works, something which I can sympathise with, but mainly the garden is somewhere to be at peace away from the responsibility of the house - to take a book and her three 'babies' (who range from three to five) and sit. Most of all I enjoyed these gentle descriptions of a love of home. This is a book I could read and read again, and probably will.
4 comments:
Well, I loved The Enchanted April (actually both book and movie versions), so I should definitely put this on my list. Sounds lovely!
I've got this one on the tbr mountain and it sounds so delightful that I should probably move it closer to the top.
"What a happy woman I am living in a garden, with books, babies, birds, and flowers, and plenty of leisure to enjoy them!"
I absolutely love that quote. That would certainly make me a happy woman!! It describes everything that I treasure in life. Thanks for sharing this.
Gentle reader: Enchanted April is a book I really want to read, I loved the BBC film of it from a few years back.
Cath: delightful is definitely the right word for this book.
Lisa: I agree, I loved that line. I only wish I had more leisure to enjoy these things!
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