Biblio Library

In Elizabeth von Arnim’s humourous novel, "The Pastor's Wife", the main character Ingeborg Bullivant goes on a spontaneous trip to Lucerne and returns engaged to a Prussian pastor.

However, her new life as a wife is restrictive, and when the dashing artist Ingram comes into her life and indulges her with musings about Italy, wanderlust temps Ingeborg for a second time.

This warm and witty novel is based on von Arnim’s own first marriage and will be enjoyed by fans of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’.

Elizabeth von Arnim was an English novelist – a cousin of the New Zealand-born writer Katherine Mansfield – born as Mary Annette Beauchamp in Australia in 1866. She married a German aristocrat and her earliest written works are set in Germany.

Von Arnim launched her career as a writer with her satirical and semi-autobiographical work ‘Elizabeth and Her German Garden’, published anonymously in 1898. Although she was known by the name May in her early life, when she began writing, her success as ‘Elizabeth’ meant that her writings were ascribed to the name Elizabeth von Arnim.