One
of the most moving, and revolutionary novels of the twentieth century,
especially for those of us lucky to live in the world’s most marvellous city –
London.
Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party and remembering her past
loves as she walks around London. Elsewhere in
the city, Septimus Warren Smith is suffering from WW1 shellshock and on the
brink of madness. Smith's day interweaves with that of Clarissa and her
friends, their lives converging as the party reaches its sparkling climax.
Virginia Woolf's masterly novel, in which she perfected the interior monologue,
brings past and present together on one momentous day in June. ‘What she loved;
life; London; this moment of June’. For lovers of London and literature
everywhere.
The working title of Mrs. Dalloway was The Hours. The novel began as two short stories, "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister". It describes Clarissa's preparations for a party she will host in the evening, and the ensuing party. With an interior perspective, the story travels forward and back in time and in and out of the characters' minds to construct an image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure.
In October 2005, Mrs. Dalloway was included on Time's list of the 100 best English-language novels written since Time debuted in 1923.
This is the perfect book group read because there is
so much to discuss (and like)!
In 1988 Karachi two fourteen-year-old schoolgirls
Zahra and Maryam share teenage kicks, secrets, and a love of George Michael.
When Pakistan’s dictator is assassinated, the girls’ idyllic world falls apart
in one dreadful, frightening evening.
Now in contemporary London the two are highly
successful women, still enjoying their friendship until one day the past
erupts.
I loved the novel’s many levels: political intrigue,
the brilliantly evoked worlds of Pakistan and London, the significance of
women’s friendship. I would love to have women friends like Zahra and Maryam.
_______________
** SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2023 ** CHOSEN AS A BEST BOOK OF 2022 BY THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL, FINANCIAL TIMES AND IRISH TIMES **
'A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces' - Madeline Miller
'A shining tour de force' - Ali Smith, Guardian Summer Reading
'An intimate study of the ties that bind us' - Stylist
_______________
A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people - from the international bestselling author of Home Fire, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction
Sometimes it was as though the…
If you’re thinking of holidaying in Corsica this book is a must read.
Written in 1767, the Scottish writer James Boswell copes with brigands, poor
food, rough roads, and an impossibly wild countryside to meet the great
Corsican republican leader Pasquale Paoli. Their encounter is every bit as
fascinating as Boswell’s friendship with Samuel Johnson, the dictionary writer.
Corsica today is much friendlier, but still has dense forests, and high
mountains, as well as the most stunning beaches in the world and gourmet food.
I stayed in beautiful Calvi, Corsica in July 2023 (I am not a travel agent!).
Excerpt from Boswell's Correspondence With the Honourable Andrew Erskine, and His Journal of a Tour to Corsica, Reprinted From the Original Ed, Edited With a Pref, 1879
About the Publisher
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do,…
The
novel is a fictional autobiography about Gwen John’s journey from a naïve young
woman to a self-confident and celebrated artist.
Starting with the
creative ferment around Bloomsbury and the Slade in which Gwen develops her
craft in the fruitfully competitive hotbed of student life, we travel with her to
Paris in 1904-1917 where she moves in an exciting art world and its cafes,
studios, and complex heterosexual and Sapphic relationships. We see her
growing obsession with and attachment to Rodin. Their affair, despite his
other lovers, is passionate and for Gwen life changing. Rodin’s
increasingly casual treatment of Gwen, threatens to stultify her painting but she
is continually inventive, painting the wonderful portraits and self-portraits
that are the defining images of that period.
