Elizabeth and Her German Garden
“Lucy Scott is an excellent narrator for this work as she appears to relish the extensive lists of plantings and the vivid emotions attached to each…The energy Scott brings to the audiobook plays a key role in keeping the listener engaged since the text is largely descriptive and offers little in the way of plot. Still, there is something soothing about imagining Elizabeth’s tea roses, sundial, and sweet peas in their glory.”
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Elizabeth and Her German Garden is a semi-autobiographical novel about the joy that the protagonist finds in the delights of her Pomeranian garden, which provides relief from the stifling environment of her household.
Von Arnim, who is best known for her later novel The Enchanted April, married a Prussian aristocrat and, with their five children, lived in Nassenheide, Pomerania. The novel was originally published anonymously because von Arnim feared that her husband, whom she satirized in the book, would disapprove. Each season of the year is wittily recorded, bringing new events and visitors, conveyed through von Arnim’s idiosyncratic perspective, while the “kingdom of heaven” of the garden provides a calm place where the author finds solace.
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