Elizabeth von Arnim's semi-autobiographical first novel - published in 1898 and written as a series of diary entries - details the joys and frustrations of creating a garden on her husband's family estate in northern Germany.

Elizabeth is a wild spirit whose minor eccentricities bemuse the servants and shock her high-born neighbours. In particular, she constantly rails against the constraints placed upon her gender. In this episode she revisits her childhood home, which she had to leave when her father died and it was inherited by her (male) cousins.

Reader: Caroline Martin
Writer: Elizabeth von Arnim
Abridger: Sara Davies
Producer: Kirsteen Cameron Show less