Friday, April 5, 2013

Enchanted April


"She jumped up, pulled on her slippers, for there was nothing on the stone floor but one small rug, ran to the window and threw open the shutters.  

"Oh!" cried Mrs. Wilkins.

All the radiance of April in Italy gathered together at her feet. The sun poured in on her. The sea lay asleep in it, hardly stirring. Across the bay the lovely mountains, exquisitely different in colour, were asleep too in the light; and underneath her window, at the bottom of the flower-starred grass slope from which the wall of the castle rose up, was a great cypress, cutting through the delicate blues and violets and rose-colours of the mountains and the sea like a great black sword.

She stared. Such beauty; and she there to see it. Such beauty; and she alive to feel it. Her face was bathed in light. Lovely scents came up to the window and caressed her. A tiny breeze gently lifted her hair. Far out in the bay a cluster of almost motionless fishing boats hovered like a flock of white birds on the tranquil sea. How beautiful, how beautiful. Not to have died before this...to have been allowed to see, breathe, feel this...She stared, her lips parted. Happy? Poor, ordinary, everyday word. But what could one say, how could one describe it? It was as though she could hardly stay inside herself, it was as though she were too small to hold so much  joy, it was as though she were washed through with light." 

-- from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim


Enjoy the first weekend of April!

9 comments:

  1. A favorite book. Have a wonderful weekend! Bonnie

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  2. I remember my dear friend Janet...her yacht pulled into the little bay, and we looked out at it from the Castello Brown's window...onto Portofino and all the other smaller boats surrounding her yacht. The Castello is perched, gardens are of forgotten flowers cherished by only those in the know...and the home is filled with antiquities and tiles of Persia and Spain.

    She lives on in my mind...a clear beautiful day, the bells tolling from the church below!

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  3. It's really a delight to read her writing...
    I can close my eyes and feel that I am there.
    Enjoy your weekend!

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  4. I love this movie, but have never read the book. April would be the perfect time to do so! The passage you've quoted is so, so lovely.

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  5. Sunday, what a treat! I loved the book and the movie. I will have to revisit both this month.

    I hope you have a fabulous weekend, Elizabeth

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  6. LOVE Enchanted April!

    how glorious to see that paragraph again.

    and thanks ever so much for visiting us over here.

    have a delicious weekend.

    _tg xx

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  7. Such a beautiful passage from Enchanted April. The first thing that popped into my mind was that I'd love to go and find a new fragrance, something that smelled of summer.

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  8. I love the Enchanted April. I have watched the movie many times and read the book. I once invited my friends for an Enchanted April party.

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  9. I've watched that movie countless times but have never read the book. I'm ordering it this minute!

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