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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
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.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful book, February 11, 2001
By A Customer
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.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
no title, November 16, 2005
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.
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