Lolly Willowes

Sylvia Townsend Warner, Coralie Bickford-Smith

Book cover for Lolly Willowes
Book cover for Lolly Willowes
Book cover for Lolly Willowes
Book cover for Lolly Willowes
Book cover for Lolly Willowes
Book cover for Lolly Willowes

Lolly Willowes

Lolly Willowes

Sylvia Townsend Warner, Coralie Bickford-Smith

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Description

"This is the witty, eerie, tender but firm life history of a middle-class Englishwoman who politely declines to make the expected connection with the opposite sex and becomes a witch instead." -- John Updike

Forty-seven-year-old Lolly Willowes is a conventional maiden aunt, an unpaid companion and babysitter to her brothers' children. After years of submission to her controlling family, she develops a longing for the countryside and dark, wild places that impels her to flee London for a remote village. Lolly soon discovers that her new neighbors are a coven of bohemian witches and eventually encounters Satan himself -- a genial country gentleman who's ready to make a pact.
The first-ever selection of the Book of the Month Club upon its 1926 publication, Lolly Willowes was a surprise international bestseller. This proto-feminist work has since been chosen as one of the Guardian's 100 Best Novels of All Time, and it remains a richly satirical novel that celebrates the joys of self-actualization.

"Revolutionary ... a subtle demand for women's power over their own lives." -- Alison Lurie

"Remarkable ... pungent and satisfying." -- Saturday Review

About the Author

Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) grew up in rural Devonshire before moving to London and writing her debut novel, Lolly Willowes (1926). With her partner, Valentine Ackland, she was active in the Communist Party and served in the Red Cross during the Spanish Civil War. Her novels include Mr. Fortune's Maggot, The True Heart, Summer Will Show, After the Death of Don Juan, The Corner That Held Them, and The Flint Anchor.

Coralie Bickford-Smith (cover illustrator) is an award-winning designer at Penguin Books, where she has created several highly acclaimed series designs. She studied typography at Reading University and lives in London.

Critical Reviews

A great shout of life and individuality.--Justine Jordan, Guardian

The book I'll be pressing into people's hands forever is Lolly Willowes [. . .] Starting as a straightforward, albeit beautifully written family saga, it tips suddenly into extraordinary, lucid wildness--Helen Macdonald, The New York Times Book Review

Sylvia Townsend Warner moves with sombre confidence into the realm of the supernatural, and her prose, in its simple, abrupt evocations, has something preternatural about it--John Updike

My comfort read--Tracey Thorn

Publishing Information

Publisher: Penguin Group
Pub date: 2024-11-12
Length: 208 pages

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