The Solitary Summer is a witty, lyrical account of a rejuvenating summer. Descriptions of magnificent larkspurs and burning nasturiums give way to those of cooling forest walks—and of clambering up a mud bank when the miller is not in view. Rainy days prompt a little philanthropy, until the sun returns the gardener to the refuge of her beloved plants. In her introduction, Deborah Kellaway writes: "All of von Arnim's heroines are escapists. They escape from riches to the simple life, or from conventional home life into foreign travel...In her first two books [Elizabeth and Her German Garden and The Solitary Summer]," the escape is simply into the garden...And it is her capacity to present her joy in that place that made the books bestsellers. Here readers are escaping, with her, into happiness."