Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Elizabeth and Her German Garden

  • By: Elizabeth von Arnim
  • Narrated by: Nadia May
  • Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (94 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Elizabeth and Her German Garden cover art

Elizabeth and Her German Garden

By: Elizabeth von Arnim
Narrated by: Nadia May
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £9.99

Buy Now for £9.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Vera cover art
Love cover art
The Lark cover art
The Enchanted April cover art
The Young Clementina cover art
The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym cover art
Mrs. Tim of the Regiment cover art
The Story Girl cover art
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm cover art
The Blue Castle cover art
A Room of One's Own cover art
Mother Carey's Chickens cover art
Middlemarch cover art
Pride and Prejudice cover art
Wives and Daughters cover art
The Return of the Native cover art

Summary

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 we watch the seasons, from May's "oasis of bird-cherries and greenery" to the time when "snow carpets her Pomeranian wilderness". And each season brings with it new events as friends and neighbors come and go, all wonderfully recorded with Elizabeth's uniquely witty pen.
(P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Rarely is there a book that when read once, one wishes to start rereading right away. Here is one. Elizabeth's memoir is read with elan and obvious relish by Nadia May." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about Elizabeth and Her German Garden

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    50
  • 4 Stars
    32
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    61
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A wonderful insightful description of gardening and German life

Maggie

Being a gardener born of German parents this brought me a smile of recognition in every chapter. What delight to plan the huge plantations, to skirt around the immovable German traditions and to beat the Man of Wrath at his own game!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Satire of its time

Tongue in cheek manners satire. I will definitely listen again to extract my favourite quotes (e.g. on Foreigners).
I found the pauses between lines a little irritating- but maybe the text was printed this way, I have only listened to the book.



Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Timecapsule, enjoy it for what it is.

This was a very interesting book to listen to, but I think the description and the glowing reviews do not completely paint the whole picture. So I will add some observations.

Yes, it's a lovely book about gardening. It also has some VERY funny and witty moments and sentences. It is well written and reasonably well narrated. However, it is also a historical document written by a deeply entitled and spoiled woman. The people working around her estate are treated horribly; she thinks of them as halfwits. They are simply not 'human' to her. The disdain dripping from her upper class perch is hard to take in places. Animals are not treated well either. The Man of Wrath (her husband) is extremely unpleasant and delights in speaking about hitting women so that they'll know their place. Most of the latter half of the book is the writer and her best friend mocking a young woman who is staying with them for a few weeks. It is hardly about gardening at all anymore once she arrives.

All in all, this book is of interest for gardening enthousiasts who like some historical insight. Though funny in a sardonic way, Elisabeth is vey much a product of her time and class. I'm not really sure why some reviews describe this book as some tale about 'leisurely times'. To me it seems more like a document about horrific working conditions. How awful it must have been to work at that estate, commanded by a rich woman who thought she was above you just because of her accident of birth. Who gossips with her friend and gardens a bit, and somehow thinks this makes her more worthy or interesting than the workers who have minds like 'children' according to her. It's also telling that she does not do any of the actual gardening work. That is left for the men doing backbreaking labor and the women who are told to get back to work a day (sometimes hours!) after giving birth, because 'they are used to it and are simple creatures who experience these things differently than us'. Elizabeth basically just does the planning, and the purchasing of new plants. Then she walks around in the garden, pointing out things that need to be changed and entertaining guests.

Conclusion: it's not a relaxing tale about gardening at all. However, I did find it interesting as a historical document. I did like the (sometimes very catty) wit and the prose is quite good. So I don't rate it very low. But be aware that if you are looking for a lovely tale about gardens this might not be it.

The sound editing leaves in a lot of 'inhaling air before the next sentence' type of sounds, so if that is something you are sensitive to, beware.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

lovely

it's not enchanted April, but it is lovely, and Nadia May is a bit of a genius. good stuff.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful view of times gone by

This is not a very long book, but nevertheless a very pleasant look back to a more leisured lifestyle, and the frustrations and rewards of creating of a garden. Perfect bedtime listening, and with a first class narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Charming story

A delightful listen, relaxing, and amusing.
So good to hear a woman making Independant decisions.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I LOVED every word of this beautiful book!

"Elizabeth and Her German Garden" is another charming, hilarious, beautifully written work by Elizabeth von Armin and one of my favourite books of recent years. I was laughing and chuckling as I listened and was surprised by how current and relatable many of the author's observations are. Despite knowing absolutely nothing about gardening, I revelled in the descriptions of plants, gardening strategies, scenery and especially weather. A delicious treat of a book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great book narrated beautifully

The book is so funny and lovely and the narration is first class. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

UTTERLY WONDERFUL

If you need cheering up and are a gardener this witty charming book will lift your spirits

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great for gardeners

I enjoyed listening to the lists of flowers in this story. The characters were a bit hard to warm to but it was certainly amusing at points. Easy listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!