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Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf

1970194 pagesabout 3–4 hours
1970
first published
  • 1970Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers · 296 pages · ENGISBN 9780156628631
  • 1976Penguin Books in association with the Hogarth Press · 214 pages · ENGISBN 9780140021592
  • 1981Harcourt Brace Jovanovich · 194 pages · ENGISBN 9780151628605
  • 1990Harcourt Brace Jovanovich · 194 pages · ENGISBN 9780156628709
  • 1992The Hogarth Press · 219 pages · ENGISBN 9780701209933
  • 1998Oxford University Press · 261 pages · ENGISBN 9780192834300
  • 2005Harcourt · 225 pages · ENGISBN 9780156030359
  • 2012Broadview Press Ltd · 300 pages · ENGISBN 9781551117232

Virginia Woolf’s novel chronicles a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a politician’s wife in 1920s London, as she prepares to host a party that evening. The narrative follows Clarissa’s thoughts (and sometimes those of people she meets) as she goes about her errands, and events in the day remind her of her youth and friendships from the past. As the book progresses characters from the past emerge, igniting old feelings and making Clarissa question the life she has created for herself. *Mrs. Dalloway* became the inspiration for Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel *The Hours*.

How it feels

Emotional toneUnflinching

How it reads

Plot intensityCharacter driven
ComplexityLayered

Worth knowing

Romance levelCentral

When and where

Content notes

No content notes without spoilers.

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