Much like the film this book by Elizabeth Von Arnim inspired, there is something peaceful here on these pages. This is a gentle novel about the gradual internal changes brought about by the beauty of our surroundings. It is a book that reads itself as much as it is read, the author writing with the flow of the characters thoughts and feelings as their hearts are changed by the suprise of beauty.

An ad to rent a castle in San Salvatore on the Italian Riviera will prompt two British women, Rose and Lottie, with only a passing acquaintance, to inexplically leave their husbands behind for a summer that will change their lives and their marriages forever.

Joining Rose and Lottie for this holiday is Mrs. Fisher, an older woman living in the past, and Lady Caroline Dester, a grey-eyed society beauty tired of being gawked at like a majestic statue, not allowed to be human. Diverse in nature and temperment, not to mention background, they interact uneasily together until the flowers and the sea bring about a change in their souls.

Surrounded by fig and olive trees, plum blossoms and Tamarisk daphnes, and the scents of fortune's yellow rose and blooming acacia, the women slowly find their roles at this castle by the sea, and in doing so find themselves as well. New insights will prompt Rose and Lottie to send for their husbands. Lady Caroline, or 'Scrap' as she is known, will find love in spite of her wish to be alone and her great beauty. Mrs. Fisher will form a friendship with Lottie and her husband, and discover a renewed zest for creativity in this heaven by the sea.

This is a novel about life and love, told gently through the emotions of these women, as the the suprise of beauty and the warmth of being suddenly admired and seen as beautiful, when they had not been before, changes their simple lives, which were not so simple at all. You will definitely enjoy this novel if you enjoyed the film. It is about love restored, and love discovered, along the wistaria covered steps leading down to the sea.

"Enchanted April" is one of my favorite books. It is such a warm, witty, wonderful story, full of hope and romance. I hear it is going to be a Broadway show this April! (fittingly) I cannot wait... I know I'm going to be the first one on line for tickets, that's for sure. All you other "Enchanted April" lovers out there, I urge you to come see this show! I'm sure this will be one of the finest shows on Broadway in a long time!

Yay "Enchanted April!"

This is a delightful story...one of my favorite books! Gives you a little faith that even seemingly irreconcileable situations can be restored or transformed, that drastically different people can find common ground and become friends, and that people can change their lives for the better! A sunny read for a dark winter day!

Ably translated by Ronald Koetzsch and Anne Riegel from the original Dutch, Anthroposophy And Astrology: The Astronomical Letters Of Elisabeth Vreede is a fascinating collection of monthly subscription "letters" by Elisabeth Vreede, Ph.D. (1879-1943), a close student of Rudolf Steiner. Ms. Vreede's writings look at astronomy and classical astrology through the lens of spiritual science, and also contemplate the role of astrology in modern society. From heavenly bodies to human souls, the unified thoughts of Ms. Vreede make for a most intriguing study, particularly for faithful astrology followers. Anthroposophy And Astrology is a unique and invaluable addition to metaphysical studies reading lists and reference collections.

This is a powerful book about a case that I have not heard much about until I found this book at a garage sale. I really find it hard to believe that in a country like Canada, the citizens of Sydney were so maligned. Even though it has been a few years since this book was written, there still hasn't been much development in the treatment of the waste.

Little Women was the first classic book I read and I borrowed it from my school library. Since it was in large print and printed especially for children, I finished it really soon. I wanted to take up the challenge of reading the unabridged copy. After a few months of searching, I finally found it! When I read it, I cried a lot, especially when Beth died. From 7 years old until now, I have read Little Women five times, 4 different books abridged and of course, the unabridged copy. I love it. I think it is a great idea that Lousia M. Alcott waas actually giving us a glimpse into her life.

My five year old daughter has wanted to read this book every night since we got it. It is a wonderful mother/daughter story. It explores being different and accepting oneself as well as introducing children to immigrant families in America. We are not from an immigrant family, but nonethless loved this story and the peek it gives you of another family and a young schoolgirls story. Also has beautiful illustrations and a few Spanish words.

This was one of my favorite books as a child and I am happy to see it is still in print. It is about a little girl who brings her father to school for show and tell. A lovely story that reminds us how important and special fathers are.

This mystery includes ghosts, people's reputations, and the dog
that barked in the night. It was difficult to put the book down.
Ellie goes off to housesit her aunt Kate's estate in the Virginia
horse country, and immediately encounters a resident ghost, or is
it? Various ancestors of "old families" make an appearance, and just what are the dark secrets the families have buried?

Between eccentric Aunt Kate, her friend Ted, the neighboring doctor and his son, Donald, some strange servants, and the present generation of the "old families," not to mention the large assortment of dogs and cats along with a pet rat, the story gets interesting. Is there trickery, perhaps mass hallucinations, or has someone really raised the dead?

There are some sidelights about the Washington Redskins, and an argument about who was the best quarterback of all times. Disagreement with Kate can give men a bad itch where gentlemen don't scratch. Overall, it was good reading for a rainy evening.

Now why is this book not available? At least it isn't as I write this review, which is a shame. This mystery is comparable to the queen of mystery, Agatha Christie. Full of chills, spills, witty dialogue and creepy people, this is a delight.

Ellie and her fiancee Henry arrive at the rambling mansion belonging to her aunt, who is an eccentric rumored to be a witch. Ellie is remaining in the house while Aunt Kate goes off on a trip, bringing a rare and quite dull book along as a gift (which she promptly forgets to give her). In the area is Ted, a friend of Kate's, and an enigmatic, quirky young man named Donald.

Soon Ellie suspects that the house is haunted, from a few specters that crop up. But she just as quickly suspects that the hauntings are all-human in origin. Is it the doc next door? The hypersensitive jerk? The humorless, desiccated librarian? The Senator who is up for reelection? The perky columnist? Creepy undertones are shown in all the characters, but which one of them would endanger -- and perhaps murder? And what secret is so terrible that would make this person so desperate?

Witchcraft, comedy, ghostliness and action are covered in this book, fast-paced and well-plotted, with lovable heroes (Ellie, Donald, Kate) and despicable people as well. One can only theorize who Marjorie Melody was based on, so cloyingly loathesome is she. And what kind of person could have inspired Henry, who readers will.... uh, react to from the first page.

A fantastic, chilling novel/mystery with wry wit, this is a book not to be missed.

I think one of the things I like best about Elizabeth Peters is that she clearly believes that reading mystery stories is supposed to be fun. Of course, there is much to be said for authors that believe otherwise. But sooner or later I need to take a break and lean back with something by an author who has managed to evade all the Sturm und Drang of modern mystery fiction. Someone I can trust with my sometimes fragile psyche. Elizabeth Peters is my all time favorite in this category of 'cozy' tales, for many reasons.

Take the book at hand, "Devil May Care." The plot work is clean and classical. Ellie has been asked by her Aunt Kate to house sit while her Aunt takes a trip. The house is a fine old manse in Burton, Virginia. Ellie arrives with her fiancée Henry, a dull but successful Washington lawyer, to find Aunt Kate clog dancing with a neighbor and deep in football discussions. After a short interlude Henry and Kate head back to the city and Ellie settles in for the long haul. Immediately she finds herself surrounded by ghosts. Aunt Kate's previously unhaunted home suddenly has a transparent young man upstairs, a jilted husband chasing his wife and her lover all over the grounds, a crazy looking red haired woman in the... Well, you get my drift.

Ellie, who is an intelligent and well grounded young woman sets about solving these appearances with the help of Ted Fraser (her Aunt's clog dancing friend) and the very attractive (and not at all dull) Donald Gold, the neighbor's son. The mystery revolves around the original six families that founded Burton, and an old history book Ellie bought for a gift to her Aunt. But what it is eludes everyone, even after Ted barely survives a meeting with an irate spirit and the sudden reappearance of Aunt Kate. The reader is well on his way through this roller coaster ride long before the complexities of the plot finally begin to unravel.

What makes this mysterious farce enjoyable is not only a clean and lively plot, but an entire cast of eccentric and wonderful characters. I greatly admire Peters heroines, who always display a great deal of intelligence and forethought. Ellie is one of these. Her Aunt Kate is no less memorable, with a defiantly impish streak. The male participants, ranging from the very dull Henry to the quick witted Donald are perfect foils for these women. In addition, all six of the founding families are full of amazing confections and one can hardly leave out the long cast of Aunt Kate's pets, lead by the imperious Roger the Rat and Franklin the Fearless Pekinese.

This is mystery fiction intended to be entertainment and little else. Elizabeth Peters is an expert as mixing archeology, the supernatural, and history with the inevitable foibles of human beings and coming up with story after satisfactory story. This is perfect fireside reading for one of those rainy fall days around Halloween. Or for any other time as well.

I just could not seem to finish this book! It was so long and covered, so much of nothing but a little bit of everything. Very sweet tale, with wit and good taste, I'd wager to say in the same vein of writing as Jane Austen. Yet Jane could tell her tale a bit quicker than this, for such a simple tale of English country life in the 1860's it is. Enjoyable and engrossing, the story is told around the doctors daughter, and the events that occur with her fathers remarriage to a rather shallow former governess and schoolteacher. Molly Gibson, the main character, is an upright citizen and honest soul, after her fathers example. Watch for the predictable love triangle between Molly and her new startlingly attractive stepsister, Cynthia. I was tired of the tedious overuse of the phrase, "tete a tete" but intrigued by several characters. Gaskells characters, such as Lady Harriet and the Sisters Browning, are fleshed out and their personalities pursued with familiarity. Don't you know someone just like Hamley of Hamley, today in 2001? Or maybe the new Mrs Gibson reminds of you of one of your friends? This is what you can look forward to: familiarity and the historicity of all sorts of little tidbits; how "the apple of his eye" was considered a vulgar term, for example. Please read if you are coming off of a Jane Austen high and are desperate; but see if you can find an abridged version, if one exists, for it is sorely needed! PS I got this book to read along with the PBS show currently running. The movie doesn't do it justice, but intrigued me enough to literally hunt for this book! Go for it!

It's interesting that another reviewer here recommends this novel on the strength of its Austen appeal. Me, I never cared for Jane Austen. But Gaskell's book is subtle and brilliant and amazing on so many levels that a little, Austen-like parody is only another flavor. Molly Gibson's moving through her life and the lives of those near to her is solid in every way that literature must be; yet it is in the stunningly realistic depictions of relations between the characters - her father, her stepmother, her stepsister, the Hamley brothers - that Mrs. Gaskell reveals her genius. She refuses to settle for easy reactions and expected responses. If at times her people suffer a bit from a Victorian eye's love of form, her brilliance will allow for no false note. As absolute evidence we see the evolution of Hyacinth Gibson's role in the family, the desperate wrongness of it, perfectly muted to the compromises life brings forth in all such situations. This single character, vain and selfish, inconsiderate but not monstrous, is as real a human being as I have ever encountered in literature of the 19th century, or this one. I conclude with saying that, having been introduced to this woman's work, George Eliot has had to share her place in my mind as the preeminent female author of that century.

I relished reading every single page of this book. Austen elements? Yes, but it did seem a lot more socially aware as well as more personable. Molly, predictably, was my favorite character, and she is the young woman I desire to be. Caring compassionate beautiful and intelligent. Roger, you and Molly deserve each other forever. The characters were complex and it will be a book I read again and again and again.

As an adoptee fortunate enough to find her birthparents (and therefore being familiar with all aspects of the triad), I found Lynn C. Franklin's book excellent. I have read many books about adoption, this one outshines them all. It was not overly clinical or statistical and was written with compassion, heart and objectivity. Adoption is such a complex topic, this is not an accomplishment to be taken lightly. Ms. Franklin's candid personal reflections of the search for her son stirred emotions deep within this reader and in my opinion brings greater understanding to everyone who has been touched by adoption or is interested in the subject. She gives voice to birthparents, adoptees and adoptive parents and their struggles with depth and kindness and backs it up with facts and experience. I am grateful to her for her efforts.

I am both an adoptee and a birthmother. I recently started reading every book about adoption I can get my hands on. My adoptive mother has read this book too and it has helped both her and me to understand some of the things that bothered me while I was growing up.

I gave my daughter up in an open adoption and I'm sending her adoptive parents a copy of this book to help them understand some of her concerns and thoughts about being an adoptee. I'm also hoping it will help their family understand why I have such a hard time staying in touch with them.

This is by far the most informative book I've read and would recommend it to any adoptee, birthmother, adoptive family or anyone thinking about adopting a child.

A must read for any member of the adoption triad- or anyone who's life has been touched by adoption.

This book explores the issues of adoption and reunion from all sides of the adoption triangle; and Ms. Franklin does it fairly and eloquently.

As an adoptee, "May the Circle Be Unbroken" was eye-opening to me. It validated many of the feelings I've had about adoption & lent perspective that I'd never before considered.

This is expressionist painting made into a book. So very pleasant and refreshing.To read leisurely.

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.

This is the story of Elizabeth, who speaks in a facetious and teasing manner...her husband sees her as typical "woman", therefore he can laugh at her and be charmed with her ways...she sees him as "the man of wrath", bound by natural laws to be serious, to be the dose of practicality. These may be stereo-typical views of the sexes, after all, the book was written in 1898. Elizabeth is writing in a biographical, journal style, telling of her days preparing their country estate to be inhabited by her and her "babies". She indulges in "the purest selfishness" by daydreaming with books in her garden. The story is full of sweet, endearing moments. She was an avid reader and has interesting comments on where certain authors are best read; she tells charming stories of her children and their ideas about the "Lieber Gott", and has a, sometimes, sharp sense of humor in regards to the people who will come and disrupt her solitary lifestyle. I would strongly recommend any of her other books you can find-particularly Solitary Summer (which is a continuation of this story), Mr. Skeffington, Enchanted April, and Jasmine Farm