This is enchanting in a Midsummer Night’s Dream type of way, where everyone is under a spell of being delusional, selfish, possessive, and controlling. The only thing any of them can agree on is that one of the characters, Lady Caroline, is of such otherworldly beauty that she must be pursued like Daphne in the woods by them all. Maybe Lady Caroline is some metaphor for the obsession with beauty in the 1920s - for me she was just tortured by merely existing. The entry in the second half of the book of various men and husbands only makes this more apparent. The other guests mellow out once they’ve all carved out their various lonesome niches, for they are all there for the purpose of finding solitude. Thus Lady Caroline is left alone at last, that is, until the men arrive. All of them want a piece of her and want to bask in the aura of her beauty (yikes). In the end she’s not even protected by the one friend she makes (in my opinion the whole book should have been about the blossoming friendship between Lotty and Scrap), instead she’s set up with the landlord and I guess we’re supposed to believe that it’s something she actually wants? The repetitive mentions of the beautiful gardens, sunshine, and nature, are all tarnished by Mrs Fisher being upset with servants for serving spaghetti (in Italy!), Rose agonising over the profession of her husband, Lady Caroline having to hide and miss meals so she can be left alone, and of course, the untimely appearance of various male characters. What the heck was the alleged main character doing? Oh she was going out for hikes and picnics in the nearby area, all adventures the reader was not invited to.

I really have no idea how people find this book so enchanting (pardon the pun).