“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 a due regard for the decencies.”

Indoors are servants, meals, and furniture. There, too, is the Man of Wrath, her upright Teutonic husband, inspiring in Elizabeth a mixture of irritation, affection, and irreverence. But outside she can escape domestic routine, read favorite books, play with her three babies–and garden to her heart’s content.

Through Elizabeth’s eyes and unique wit, we watch the seasons come and go, each bringing with it new events, friends, and neighbors.

A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed

Four very diverse women, all seeking revitalization from the dreary February rains of 1920s London, rent the small medieval castle of San Salvatore, nestled high above the bay of Portofino, Italy. Arriving at San Salvatore, they find it awash with the scent of flowers, its olive groves terracing down to the sun-warmed sea.

Each has her reasons for desiring escape. Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot are glad to leave behind their insipid duties and unresponsive husbands. The elderly Mrs. Fisher wishes only to sit in the sun and replay her youthful memories, and the bewitchingly beautiful Lady Caroline Dester desires to have seclusion from all her adoring suitors. Amid the canopies of fragrant wisteria, in the sweet sunshine and melodious silence, fate has some surprises in store for all of them.

When four women leave their drab lives behind to go on holiday in Italy, their lives are changed forever by the Mediterranean. Mrs. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Wilkins, while part of the same ladies’ club, have never spoken. Lady Caroline Dester and the elderly Mrs. Fisher join their holiday so as to mitigate expenses. As these women come together and learn more about themselves than they ever thought possible, they reveal their true personalities and the backdrops of their lives that tend to hinder them. Inspired by the author’s own month-long trip to the Italian Riviera, this novel is noted as her most widely-read work.