This masterpiece of modern literature by the author of Orlando is an intimate and probing account of a single day in the life of a London society woman. It's the spring of 1923 and Clarissa Dalloway must prepare her Westminster home for the guests she will receive this evening. As the wife of a Parliament Minister, proper decorum is of upmost importance, and she decides to buy the flowers herself. Walking through the streets of London, Clarissa's entire life swirls through her mind as Big Ben tolls out the passing hours of the day. On her journey, Clarissa will encounter friends and memories; regrets and dreams of what might have been. From her happy youth to the realities of World War I and the very logical reasons for marrying her husband, her stream of consciousness is evoked with lucidity and depth by one of the twentieth century's most important literary stylists. Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is "conceived so brilliantly, dimensioned so thoroughly and documented so absolutely that her type, in the words of Constantin Stanislavsky, might be said to have been done 'inviolably and for all time'" ( The New York Times ). "Virginial Woolf is one of the few writers who changed life for all of us. Her combination of intellectual courage and painful emotional sensitivity created a new way of perceiving and living in the world." —Margaret Drabble This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.