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Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) married Leonard Woolf, and together they established the Hogarth Press in Richmond. Virginia Woolf became a leading figure in the literary coterie known as the Bloomsbury Group, and among her novels were ‘Orlando' and ‘Mrs Dalloway'.
To the Lighthouse is one of Virginia Woolf’s best-known novels, and is a classic example of a story in which not much seems to happen, but much is revealed. A bold departure from the literary norms of the time, Woolf’s meandering narrative has an important place in the history and development of English literature. It continues to regularly appear in lists of the most influential novels of the 20th Century.
The story focuses on a single group of people holidaying in the Isle of Skye, firstly before the First World War, and in the latter part of the book after the war. These people are the Ramsays, their eight young children and their houseguests, including struggling painter Lily Briscoe and a poet named Augustus Carmichael.
Over the course of the novel, Woolf takes a meditative and largely introspective look at timeless grand themes that are as relevant to life now as they were then: the passage of time, identity, relationships and loss. This unabridged audio reading by Phyllida Law is a superb choice for anyone wishing to rediscover the story, and for a new generation to experience it for the first time.
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