Published in 1925 and rated among the top 100 novels Mrs Dalloway is a story set in post first world war Britain. Apparently Virginia Woolf had written two short stories 'Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street' and 'The Prime Minister' and combined the two.
The story takes place in a day in the life of an English socialite Mrs Clarissa Dalloway who is throwing a party that evening to be attended by elite classes including the Prime Minister. She has married a successful and reliable man Richard Dalloway instead of her old flame, the enigmatic and demanding Peter Walsh, and another female flame Sally Seton. Now both Peter and Sally are invited to the party. While Sally is happily married and has five kids which is a far cry from what she was in her youth, Peter is still madly in love with Clarissa who also yearns to get away from her life. In all this there is the story of Septimus Smith, a war veteran who is slowly losing his mind and who also remembers his friend Evans for who he has sexual feelings. At the moment though he has no feelings for anyone, including his wife.
Towards the end Septimus commits suicide, an act which Clarissa apparently sees braver than the choices she is taking.
Pretty forward for those times one must say. I liked the intensity of Walsh's feelings for Clarissa and their unfulfilled love story.
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