Chapter 17: The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

This week, we again get to spend time with Mrs. Arbuthnot - funny to still call her by her formal name after all these months. Rose, we get to spend more time with Rose Arbuthnot. As a contemplative introvert, I love spending time with Rose. I know what it is like to hem and to haw, to reason it out and then take it all back again. I think that is why this is such an easy story to enjoy, the characters are so easy to relate to, likely exaggerated a bit, but they each have traits we see every day in the world around us, even though it was written all those years ago.

 

And now, back to Rose: she has reached an impasse. Her contemplation has run its course and now she must act. Will she or won't she ask her husband to join her? Her internal protection alarms are going off warning her to keep herself safe, her soul is pining, and yet still she has to make a decision. This chapter will take her, faster than she realizes, into the next step of her life.

 

You will also find an early example of "mansplaining" in this chapter, done with the best intentions, of course - it made me giggle to see it, hopefully it'll make you smile too.