The tables at the front of our shops hold a dazzling array of brand new books to tempt the avid reader. But don’t forget to occasionally wend your way further back, where you’ll find shelf-loads of wonderful classics that have never gone out of print.
To Those who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine. Small mediaeval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be Let Furnished for the month of April. Necessary servants remain.
X, Box 1000, The Times
Nowadays if you want to holiday on your own all you do is plan your itinerary and buy a ticket. But in 1922 it simply wasn’t the done thing, especially for a woman — even if she could afford it. The dilemma facing Mrs. Wilkins is that having read the above advertisement in the Agony Column she desperately wants to go.
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim is the most adorable story of how four women, strangers to each other, separately answer an advertisement in the London Times, and unexpectedly find themselves on holiday together. How they cope with inhabiting a mediaeval Italian castle all at the same time is nothing short of hilarious. This book is beautifully written, supremely humorous, and still holds its own nearly one hundred years after it was published. A classic after my own heart!
