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The Enchanted April
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
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The Enchanted April
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Summary
Two unhappily married women, Rose Arbuthnot and Lotty Wilkins, respond to an advertisement offering a month’s rental of a small medieval Italian castle. In order to defray the not inconsiderable cost of such a venture, two other ladies, Lady Caroline Dester and the formidable Miss Fisher, are invited to join them, and thus the four embark on their adventure. The ill-matched companions get off to a rocky start, but the delightful and spell-binding environment of the Italian Riviera unexpectedly brings them together.
Written in a rented castle in Portofino and published in 1922, The Enchanted April met with immediate critical and popular success, and has given rise to two films and a play. At the time of publication, The Nation and Athenaeum wrote: ‘The beauty of San Salvatore is kept constantly before us with the greatest skill, and the humour of the author has never been more delightful.’ Bursting with wit, this audiobook is sure to enchant modern listeners as they gradually learn more about each of its protagonists.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about The Enchanted April
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paula Puddephatt
- 08-11-23
So wonderful
This is one of my favourite novels. I love the characters and the beautiful descriptions. This is a fine adaptation. Highly recommended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rachel Redford
- 06-03-23
A perfect period piece
It seems everyone’s lives these days are ruled by constantly pinging phones – and now too it seems are the lives of text-speaking characters in current fiction. What a blissful pleasure it is to be transported back one hundred years from our smartphone-dominated 21st century to Elizabeth von Arnim’s uplifting fable of four English ladies charmed by the natural beauty of San Salvatore!
Published in 1922, This Enchanted April is the delightful story of Lottie and Rose, two thwarted and disappointed wives, who have with great daring used their little nest eggs to hire for a whole month the medieval castle in San Salvatore on the Italian Riviera which Lottie had seen advertised. . To eke out their savings, the formidable elderly widowed Mrs Fisher and the impossibly beautiful and selfish young Lady Caroline have joined them, making a seemingly unlikely and awkward quartet.
No wonder there have been films made of von Arnim’s enchanting story! The ravishing beauty of the place with the tumbling , heavily scented wisteria and syringa in the garden and the ravishing blue brilliance of the sea and sky casts a magical spell and gradually transforms each of the troubled unhappy women as they re-appraise themselves and their lives. As ebullient Lottie promised it would, their hearts are filled with what until San Salvatore had eluded them: joy and love.
This may sound rather saccharine (and admittedly the very last part is a little too like the end of a conventional stage play of the time), but each very real woman and the growing relationships between the four of them are presented with such delicacy, insight, warmth and waspish wit that such a pitfall is avoided. The jewel-bright setting of scented blossom and the balm of azure enchants the listener as well as the ladies.
The narrator Lucy Scott, as might be expected from a Naxos production, is excellent: warm, vivacious and capturing all the various moods and nuances. Her narration for Naxos of Elizabeth von Arnim’s Vera would be a great follow-up.
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