Saturday, August 2, 2008

The Enchanted April

It began in a Woman's Club in London on a February afternoon—an uncomfortable club, and a miserable afternoon--when Mrs. Wilkins, who had come down from Hampstead to shop and had lunched at her club, took up The Times from the table in the smoking-room, and running her listless eye down the Agony Column saw this:
To Those Who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine. Small mediaeval Italian
Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be Let furnished for the month of
April. Necessary servants remain. Z, Box 1000, The Times.

That was its conception; yet, as in the case of many another, the conceiver was unaware of it at the moment.

Elizabeth von Arnim: The Enchanted April


Christopher and Columbus
Elizabeth and Her German Garden
The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight
The Solitary Summer

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