DISCOVER ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEN plus its sequel THE SOLITARY SUMMER -Illustrated with beautiful period illustrations and photos -Formatted for kindle with easy navigation between books -Includes two of her best books, complete and unabridged: ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEN THE SOLITARY SUMMER Perfect reading for Downton Abbey fans “Elizabeth von Armin has a genius for writing brilliant novels. If you know her books then you will find this a great value collection, if you’re new to her work then you’re in for a real treat”' Literary Classics “Downton Abbey fever reaches forgotten author Elizabeth von Arnim.” LA Times “If you're like me, you had never heard of Elizabeth von Arnim until the recent episode of PBS' smash hit Downton Abbey, when a valet gave a copy of Von Arnim's Elizabeth and Her German Garden to his love interest. Von Arnim, however, was a hugely popular author during the Edwardian era depicted on the show, and her first novel Elizabeth and Her German Garden, published in 1898, was a spectacular success that underwent repeated printings.” Fine Books & Collections PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH AND HER GERMAN GARDEN “If you haven’t read this yet, please do; it’s one of the finest novels I’ve read in a very long time, and I know it’s one I’m going to come back to time and time again.” Book Snob 'An extraordinary work . . . idyllic' Elizabeth Jane Howard “I had never heard of Elizabeth von Arnim before. Just when you think you’re starting to get a hold of a certain period of literature, some gem like this pops up and send you reeling down some new pathway of literary wonder “ B. Cook “Elizabeth is a charming, honest narrator who I love more and more on each rereading. If you have not read it yet, please do, preferably before the planting season as it’s quite impossible not to be inspired by Elizabeth’s horticultural passions” The Captive Reader 'She has a wild sense of comedy and a vision continually thwarted though it was of potential happiness' Penelope Mortimer PRAISE FOR THE SOLITARY SUMMER “Between Elizabeth and her German Garden and this follow-up, I am not sure which one I enjoyed better. Perhaps I enjoyed her meandering writing a little more this time around, because I knew what to expect and so I could appreciate the small details better.” Iris on Books “And so I’d slip into Solitary Summer and suddenly my vision is filled with flowers, roses, pansies, sweet peas, and the scent, oh I can almost smell them! I feel myself relaxing and by the time my commuter train pulls into my stop, I am grinning. And while it doesn’t last all day, I do find myself thinking of flowers and gardening and I begin to feel sick with spring fever.” Somanybooksblog.com
Author
Elizabeth, Countess Russell, was a British novelist and, through marriage, a member of the German nobility, known as Mary Annette Gräfin von Arnim. Born Mary Annette Beauchamp in Sydney, Australia, she was raised in England and in 1891 married Count Henning August von Arnim, a Prussian aristocrat, and the great-great-great-grandson of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. She had met von Arnim during an Italian tour with her father. They married in London but lived in Berlin and eventually moved to the countryside where, in Nassenheide, Pomerania, the von Arnims had their family estate. The couple had five children, four daughters and a son. The children's tutors at Nassenheide included E. M. Forster and Hugh Walpole. In 1898 she started her literary career by publishing Elizabeth and Her German Garden, a semi-autobiographical novel about a rural idyll published anonymously and, as it turned out to be highly successful, reprinted 21 times within the first year. Von Arnim wrote another 20 books, which were all published "By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden". Count von Arnim died in 1910, and in 1916 Elizabeth married John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, Bertrand Russell's elder brother. The marriage ended in disaster, with Elizabeth escaping to the United States and the couple finally agreeing, in 1919, to get a divorce. She also had an affair with H. G. Wells. She was a cousin of Katherine Mansfield (whose full name was Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp). Elizabeth von Arnim spent her old age in London, Switzerland, and on the French Riviera. When World War II broke out she permanently took up residence in the United States, where she died in 1941, aged 74.
