THE STORY: When two frustrated London housewives decide to rent a villa in Italy for a holiday away from their bleak marriages, they recruit two very different English women to share the cost and the experience. There, among the wisteria blossoms a

Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel "Elizabeth and Her German Garden" was first published in 1898. It was instantly popular and has gone through numerous reprints ever since. This story is the main character Elizabeth’s diary, where she relates stories from her life, as she learns to tend to her garden. Whilst the novel has a strongly autobiographical tone, it is also very humorous and satirical, due to Elizabeth’s frequent mistakes and her idiosyncratic outlook on life. She comments on the beauty of nature and shares her view on society, looking down on the frivolous fashions of her time and writing "I believe all needlework and dressmaking is of the devil, designed to keep women from study." The book is the first in a series about the same character. Elizabeth von Arnim (1866–1941), née Mary Annette Beauchamp, was a British novelist. Born in Australia, her family returned to England when she was three years old; and she was Katherine Mansfield’s cousin. She was first married to a Prussian aristocrat, the Graf von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and later to the philosopher Bertrand Russel’s older brother, Frank, whom she left a year later. She then had an affair with the publisher Alexander Reeves, a man thirty years her junior, and with H.G. Wells. Von Arnim moved a lot, living alternatively in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, before dying of influenza in South Carolina during the Second War. Elizabeth von Arnim was an active member of the European literary scene, and entertained many of her contemporaries in her Chalet Soleil in Switzerland. She even hired E. M. Forster and Hugh Walpole as tutors for her five children. She is famous for her half-autobiographical, satirical novel "Elizabeth and her German Garden" (1898), as well as for "Vera" (1921), and "The Enchanted April" (1922).

Hailed as "one of the three finest wits of her day," the Countess Elizabeth von Arnim cemented her literary reputation with this companion work to her extraordinarily popular first novel, the semi-autobiographical Elizabeth and Her German Garden (also available from Cosimo Classics). First published in 1899, this is a proto-feminist account of one woman's attempt to carve out of a space of her own-away from the husband she only half jokingly refers to as her "Man of Wrath"-in the rambling gardens of the family's county estate. By turns bitingly satirical and achingly lovely, this will delight fans of von Armin's friends and fellow writers E.M. Forster and Katherine Mansfield. British novelist ELIZABETH VON ARNIM (1866-1941) is also the author of Enchanted April.

'Brenda Bowen's Enchanted August is a perfect summer read – for any time of the year' Everyone needs a place like Hopewell Cottage – a romantic holiday rental on a small, sunny island. For Rose and Lottie, it’s a refuge from the frenzy of the school gates. For Beverly, it’s a chance to say goodbye to two lost loves. And for disgraced movie star Caroline, it offers the anonymity she craves. But on tiny Little Lost Island, with its cocktail parties, tennis matches and Ladies’ Association for Beautification, will they really find the answers to their very modern problems? ‘Delightful... I'm dreaming of blueberries and Maine lobster. We all need a sunny island or castle to which we can run away’ Helen Simonson, author of MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND

Starlight leaves the land of Elysia to find happiness, but returns and finds her friends are no longer jealous of her.

A newly covered best-sellers for creative hands and curious minds, featuring 32 pages of fine line art, fun-to-read and informative facts -- and bold, updated cover for contemporary consumers.Children will be spellbound by this magical tale of a princess in search of the Mirror of Truth, complete with hidden pictures. Try and find them all.