![]() ![]() This really sparked my interest in her life, and I began to read up on her. I did not realise that Elizabeth von Arnim was Australian, and grew up only half-an-hour away from me until recently. ![]() I also adore her novel Enchanted April which in 1991 was turned into a charming movie starring Miranda Richardson and Josie Lawrence. I re-read it again every few years (it’s so slim it only takes me a few hours), as a kind of restorative medicine for the soul. Many years ago, I read Elizabeth & Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim, a wonderfully warm and funny book about a young woman who restores an unloved garden and finds true peace and joy there. More than a biography, Only Happiness Here is also a personal investigation into our perennial obsession with finding joy. Intrigued by von Arnim’s extraordinary life, Gabrielle Carey sets off on a literary and philosophical journey to learn about this bold and witty author. Born in Sydney in the mid-1800s, she went on to write many internationally bestselling novels, marry a Prussian Count and then an English Lord, develop close friendships with H.G. She was ahead of her time in her understanding of women and their often thwarted pursuit of happiness. Elizabeth von Arnim is one of the early twentieth century’s most famous – and almost forgotten – authors. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |