The Enchanted April (Collins Classics)

The Enchanted April by British author Elizabeth Von Arnim is a book of literary fiction first published in 1922 in the Great Britain. This charming and light-hearted novel about unlikely female friendships and the power of a blissful escape was a best-seller in both England and the United States.

Sneak Peak
She peeped in. Firelight and flowers; and outside the deep slits of windows hung the blue curtain of the night. How pretty. What a sweet place San Salvatore was. And that gorgeous lilac on the table— she must go and put her face in it . . . But she never got to the lilac. She went one step towards it, and then stood still, for she had seen the figure looking out of the window in the farthest corner, and it was Frederick. All the blood in Rose's body rushed to her heart and seemed to stop its beating.

Synopsis
The story centres on four very different ladies who reply to an advertisement in The Times for a stunning mediaeval castle that is available to rent for a month on the Italian Riviera. They travel to the serene Mediterranean coasts full of hope for a blissful retreat, seduced by the promise of "wisteria and sunlight." As members of the same ladies' club but complete strangers, cheerless Mrs. Arbuthnot and shy Mrs. Wilkins discover some common ground in their struggle to mend troubled marriages. In order to reduce costs, they also unwillingly recruit the widowed Mrs. Fisher and the gorgeous but aloof socialite Lady Caroline Dester. At first, there are conflicts among the group, but as the glorious spring days pass, each person gradually changes while rediscovering hope and love.