1st Impression on The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Summary:
A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed.

The Enchanted April started with an advertisement of a small medieval castle in Italy, which to be let in April. There, four women embark on a holiday to get out of their dissatisfied lives, where they found beauty and warmth.

I was enraptured by the beautiful trees and flowers with which the castle is surrounded.

Wisteria

"All down the stone steps on either side were periwinkle in full flower, and [Mrs Arbuthnot] could now see what it was that had caught at her the night before and brushed, wet and scented, across her face. It was wisteria."

I can imagine now how it would've felt to be brushed by wet and scented wisterias across my face!

And imagine having wisteria on your porch to look at every morning when you first open your door! It's fortunate I don't have it though, or else, it would've caused struggles to tear myself from its sight everytime I need to go to work!

Judas Tree

I've never heard before that there's tree named Judas! I'd assume it to be an ugly one, but I was wrong...

Judas Tree is "one of the earliest trees to flower in spring, Cercis bursts into colour in April and keeps its large clusters of spectacular bright pink blooms right throughout May. The flowers are said to look like hummingbirds, with showy blooms tapering off into long, thin beak-like stems. [source]

Interestingly, Von Arnim wrote The Enchanted April in 1922 from Castello Brown, a 15th century castle in Portofino, where she herself was having a month-long holiday without her husband!

I wonder whether Castello Brown was as beautiful as what von Arnim described about San Salvatore!

In short, I've fallen in love with this book from the first chapter - no, the first paragraph. And I was instantly drawn to Lotty Wilkins' character. This would be a blissful reading for me, I'm sure, the one I'd be reluctant to end.