Woolf's second novel, set in Edwardian London. Katharine Hilbery, granddaughter of a celebrated poet, lives in a house steeped in literary tradition and is expected to marry well. Her path crosses with Ralph Denham, a clerk with ambitions, and Mary Datchet, who works for women's suffrage, while the sharp Cassandra and the ambitious William Rodney complicate matters further. It is a thoughtful comedy of manners about love, duty, independence and the gap between public expectations and private feeling, written in a more traditional style than her later work.
Quotes
To seek a true feeling among the chaos of the unfeelings or half-feelings of life, to recognize it when found, and to accept the consequences of the discovery, draws lines upon the smoothest brow,
It was a Sunday evening in October, and in common with many other young ladies of her class, Katharine Hilbery was pouring out tea.