A novel set on a single June day in London shortly after the First World War. Clarissa Dalloway, a society hostess in middle age, prepares for an evening party. As she goes about the city, her thoughts drift back to her youth and to choices she made. Alongside her, the story follows Septimus Smith, a veteran troubled by his war experiences. The book moves between minds and moments, joining ordinary events with deep memory. It is admired for its flowing style and its sensitive portrait of a city, a marriage and the lingering effects of war.
Quotes
Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day.
Fear no more the heat o' the sun nor the furious winter's rages.
For there she was.