Elizabeth von Arnim

Elizabeth von Arnim was a British-Australian novelist who was born Mary Annette Beauchamp in Sydney in 1866 and grew up in England. She married a German count and lived on his Pomeranian estate, an experience that inspired her first novel. She was a cousin of Katherine Mansfield. Elizabeth and Her German Garden is her debut novel — a witty, charming account of a woman who escapes the tedium of her marriage through her passionate devotion to her garden. The book was an immediate bestseller in 1898. Von Arnim's other novels include The Enchanted April (adapted into a beloved film) and Vera. Her fiction is characterised by its wit, its sharp observation of marriage, and its celebration of nature and solitude. Von Arnim died in 1941. Her audiobooks and books offer listeners and readers witty, enchanting fiction about women who find freedom in gardens, travel, and defiance of convention.