Elizabeth and Her German Garden (1898) [Paperback]

Countess Elizabeth Von Arnim Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2006

"May 7th.--I love my garden. I am writing in it now in the late afternoon loveliness, much interrupted by the mosquitoes and the temptation to look at all the glories of the new green leaves washed half an hour ago in a cold shower. Two owls are perched near me, and are carrying on a long conversation that I enjoy as much as any warbling of nightingales. The gentleman owl says [[musical notes occur here in the printed text]], and she answers from her tree a little way off, [[musical notes]], beautifully assenting to and completing her lord's remark, as becomes a properly constructed German she-owl. They say the same thing over and over again so emphatically that I think it must be something nasty about me; but I shall not let myself be frightened away by the sarcasm of owls..."

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"About love and affection, spring and picnics on frosty afternoon, and the leisure that we have forgotten ever existed." -- Miriam Rothschild --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

"May 7th--There were days last winter when I danced for sheer joy out in my frost-bound garden in spite of my years and children. But I did it behind a bush, having due regard for the decencies..." Elizabeth's uniquely witty pen records each season in her beloved garden, where she escapes from the stifling routine of indoors: from servants, meals, domestic routine--and the presence of her overbearing husband. In her introduction, Elizabeth Jane Howard observes: "Elizabeth von Arnim went on to write some very good novels, but "Elizabeth and Her German Garden," its more rhapsodic passages nicely balanced by her acute and sometimes very funny perceptions about her family and friends, has a freshness, a freakish charm, an irrepressible energy that springs straight from the very source of her personality." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Book Jungle (July 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594621829
• ISBN-13: 978-1594621826
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,374,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life on a turn-of the century Prussian Estate, January 5, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Berkeley Heights, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elizabeth And Her German Garden (Paperback)

Elizabeth, a young middle class English woman catches the eye of Count von Arnim, a land rich (40,000 acres) cash poor Pussian gentleman considerably older than her. Her memoir of her life on the country estate, trying to recreate an English garden in the unforgiving climate and soil of Northern Gemany is revealing not only in its picture of "Woman put in her place" but the rigid society in which she lives. Dealing with three babies (each 13 months apart), a cynical, smug (you want to smack him) husband, conventions (as the lady of the estate she could only direct the gardner, never soil her own hands) she struggles valiantly to establish her own personae. Yes, she probably was not an easy person to live with - some of her own nastiness comes through, but read as a blunt portrayal women's roles at that time, you have compassion for her. The book was her first and a best seller in its day.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful book, February 11, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Elizabeth And Her German Garden (Paperback)

This book was referred to in Rosamunde Pilcher's "The Shell Seekers". It sounded interesting to me and so I ordered it.

Since it was written in 1898, it tells of a life very different than any today. As an Englishwoman, it was difficult for her to live in the stuffy German society in the city. Having a garden and house in the country where she did quite what she wanted kept her sane. Of course, having a houseful of servants helped.

She has a wonderful sense of humor while describing all the little things that she cannot do as the lady of the house. It must have been a very difficult situation.

I loved the term she gave her husband, "The Man of Wrath". I'm going to look for more books by this author.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars no title, November 16, 2005

By 

C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elizabeth and Her German Garden (Paperback)

This is a most wonderful piece. I love the way Elizabeth always calls her husband the Man of Wrath; I love her wit; I love her descriptions of the forest silence and the Baltic Sea in winter; her children are always the April baby, the May baby, the June baby. Her writing is filled with phrases which could be lifted whole and put in a book of quotes full of wise words. Should be a classic, instead of moldering on a shelf. Thank god I own it! Probably written around 1900.