Elizabeth And Her German Garden [Paperback]

Elizabeth Von Arnim (Author), Marie Annette Beauchamp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2009

Elizabeth and Her German Garden is a novel by Elizabeth von Arnim, first published in 1898; it was very popular and frequently reprinted during the early years of the 20th century.
The story is a year's diary written by the protagonist Elizabeth about her experiences learning gardening and interacting with her friends. It includes commentary on the beauty of nature and on society, but is primarily humorous due to Elizabeth's frequent mistakes and her idiosyncratic outlook on life.
She looked down upon the frivolous fashions of her time writing "I believe all needlework and dressmaking is of the devil, designed to keep women from study."
The book is the first in a series about the same character.

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: 104 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (February 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1438285493
• ISBN-13: 978-1438285498
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 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: #747,466 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.