The Enchanted April

The Enchanted April (1922) is a novel by English author Elizabeth von Arnim. Set in a fictionalized version of a real 15th-century castle near Portofino, it follows four women as they embark on a month-long holiday on the Italian coast. Mrs. Wilkins, Mrs. Arbuthnot, Mrs. Fisher, and Lady Caroline Dester all travel to Italy to escape the dreariness of their daily lives and find themselves transformed by the beauty of the Italian countryside. Not entirely sure what to make of one another at the beginning of the novel, the women gradually become friends as they realize that genuine connection has long been absent from their lives. The novel tackles themes of The Transformative Power of Acceptance and Understanding, The Demands of Marriage and Propriety, and The Importance of Self-Discovery and Personal Freedom. A bestseller at the time of its publication, it remains the most widely read of von Arnim’s books.

This guide uses the Penguin Classics 2015 reprint edition.

Plot Summary

Unhappy young housewife Mrs. Wilkins reads a notice in the paper while dining at her (decidedly downscale) club in London: There is a castle to be let for the entire month of April on the Italian coast. She is sure that she could never afford such an extravagance and that her husband would not sanction the frivolity of a month-long holiday, but Mrs. Wilkins is immediately seized by a strong desire to go. Noticing Mrs. Arbuthnot, a woman she knows by sight from church, also staring at the paper, she impulsively approaches her and asks if she, too, has read about the castle.

Mrs. Arbuthnot was indeed reading the same advertisement, but she is an upstanding and reserved woman and finds Mrs. Wilkins’s question bold and out of place. Nevertheless, Mrs. Wilkins charms her with her earnestness, and the two decide to write the post’s author, just to inquire about specifics and price. Mrs. Wilkins is unhappily married to Mellersh, a solicitor to whom she feels badly matched. Mrs. Arbuthnot is also unhappily married to Frederick, the author of scandalous “memoirs” of famous mistresses to great kings. These are books to which she, as a devout Christian, firmly objects. The two strike up an unlikely friendship, and when they hear back from the castle’s owner, Mr. Briggs, they decide to rent it. They advertise for two more women to share the costs, and after they meet and interview Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline Dester, the trip is set.

The castle is more beautiful than any of the women could have hoped for, but a series of small personality conflicts erupts. Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline would like nothing better than to be left alone, and although Mrs. Wilkins is able to overlook their rudeness, Mrs. Arbuthnot cannot. Still, the days pass in relative comfort and happiness, and each woman begins to relax. The party also has time to reflect on their lives. Lady Caroline, wealthy and beautiful but without direction, has not been able to move past the death of her beloved during the war. Mrs. Fisher, a widow, wonders if life holds any remaining opportunities for novelty at her age. Mrs. Arbuthnot desperately wants to reconnect with her husband, but the distasteful nature of his work stands in the way. Mrs. Wilkins realizes that her love for Mellersh has always been dependent on his love for her and that perhaps love should not be reciprocal. She writes to invite him to join the party in Italy, setting off a chain of events that will alter everyone’s lives.

Mellersh arrives a changed man. The power of his wife’s unconditional acceptance and understanding has rendered him grateful and kind. He instantly makes friends with the other women, further cementing their individual transformations. Everyone is kinder to one another, and everyone can see one another’s skills and strengths. Through a coincidence, Mrs. Arbuthnot’s husband also arrives at the castle. Although he stopped by to visit Caroline Dester, with whom, unbeknownst to his wife, he is friends, he and Mrs. Arbuthnot are so thrilled to be reunited that she casts aside her judgment about the salacious nature of the books that he writes. They, too, reconcile.

The castle’s owner, Mr. Briggs, also shows up for a visit and falls instantly in love with Lady Caroline. Mrs. Fisher gives every evidence of having laid aside her domineering and difficult ways, and Mrs. Wilkins is sure that Caroline is poised to give romantic love another chance with Mr. Briggs. The party leaves the castle after a truly “enchanted” month of April, transformed.