Hello - I think that the book was thoroughly enjoyable; the more you got into it, the more you got into it. It was brilliant escapism.
The balance between lemon vinegar and cream puff was just right for me too. I loved the way that Lotty launched herself into a new friendship like that - it's something I think we all fancy doing sometimes, but are too reserved to do. Even when you meet someone new who you get on with, you often let that slide away.
The ladies had no names or sense of self until they arrived at San Salvatore. They were only known by their married names, or in Scrap's case by her formal title, and were trapped and lost in England. But this was not, as I first suspected, an attack on men. There was room for them too in San Salvatore.
San Salvatore represented a feminine utopia of communal living where there is no one dominant leader, but rather a commune where everything is shared and all are welcomed and embraced.
Naturally as a utopia it had to be beautiful. I enjoyed the descriptions of the medieval castle and gardens, and feel that there was the right amount of description, but can see that some may feel that it was over the top - but isn't this afterall what a utopia is?
I have read "Elizabeth's German Garden" recently. This is more about vivid descriptions of a garden than anything else, and charts a period in Elizabeth Von armin's life. I think we can conclude from these two books, that Von Armin rather liked gardens!
The garden was the main focus of "The Enchanted April" too, more than the castle that they originally sort. The surrounding countryside played a role aswell. The women were able to go back to their feminine roots and find themselves in nature, which they are ultimately linked to.
The book was written in the 1920s when people were still in shock after the hideous fallout of WW1. Writing like this was popuar because people needed something comforting and beautiful to escape in. Interestingly, the war is only mentioned once (I think) and then this is brief. Men and women, at this time were trying to find and redefine themselves. It struck me that Rose and Lotty have no children, but have been married for some time and then lost their way in there relationships. Perhaps their husbands were away in the war for some time?
Please don't mind me rattling on - I'm really enjoying myself and could keep going all night
There's still Mrs Fisher and Lady C to talk about yet...