Lolly Willowes

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But Lolly has a greater, far darker calling than family: witchcraft. '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

Lolly Willowes is a satirical comedy of manners incorporating elements of fantasy. It is the story of a middle-aged spinster who moves to a country village to escape her controlling relatives and takes up the practice of witchcraft. The novel opens at the turn of the twentieth century, with Laura Willowes moving from Somerset to London to live with her brother Henry and his family. The move comes in the wake of the death of Laura's father, Everard, with whom she lived at the family home, Lady Place. Laura's other brother, James, moves into Lady Place with his wife and his young son, Titus, with the intention to continue the family's brewing business. However, James dies suddenly of a heart attack and Lady Place is rented out, with the view that Titus, once grown up, will return to the home and run the business. After twenty years of being a live-in aunt, Laura finds herself feeling increasingly stifled both by her obligations to the family and by living in London. When shopping for flowers on the Moscow Road, Laura decides she wishes to move to the Chiltern Hills and, buying a guidebook and map to the area, she picks the village of Great Mop as her new home. Against the wishes of her extended family, Laura moves to Great Mop and finds herself entranced and overwhelmed by the chalk hills and beech woods. Though sometimes disturbed by strange noises at night, she settles in and befriends her landlady and a poultry farmer. After a while, Titus decides to move from his lodgings in Bloomsbury to Great Mop and be a writer, rather than managing the family business. Titus's renewed social and domestic reliance on Laura makes her feel frustrated that even living in the Chilterns she cannot escape the duties expected of women. When out walking, she makes a pact with a force that she takes to be Satan, to be free from such duties. On returning to her lodgings, she discovers a kitten, whom she takes to be Satan's emissary, and names him Vinegar, in reference to an old picture of witches' familiars. Subsequently, her landlady takes her to a Witches' Sabbath attended by many of the villagers. Titus is plagued with misadventures, such as having his milk constantly curdle and falling into a nest of wasps. Finally, he proposes marriage to a London visitor, Pandora Williams, who has treated his wasp stings, and the two retreat to London. Laura, relieved, meets Satan at Mulgrave Folly and tells him that women are like 'sticks of dynamite' waiting to explode and that all women are witches even 'if they never do anything with their witchcraft, they know it's there - ready!' The novel ends with Laura acknowledging that her new freedom comes at the expense of knowing that she belongs to the 'satisfied but profound indifferent ownership' of Satan.

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But Lolly has a greater, far darker calling than family: witchcraft. '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

First published in 1926, "Lolly Willowes" is Sylvia Townsend Warner's satirical feminist comedy of manners. Set in the first part of the twentieth century, the novel concerns the aging spinster Laura Willowes who comes to live with her elder brother and his family in London following the death of her father. After many years of living in the shadow of her controlling family, Laura, while shopping for flowers, on a whim decides to break free and move to the English countryside. Her destination is the town of Great Mop in the Chiltern Hills northwest of London. Her escape from the duties her family imposes upon her is soon foiled when her nephew Titus decides to abandon the family business and moves to Great Mop to become a writer. What follows is a pact with the devil, the adoption of an emissary of Satan which comes in the form of a cat named Vinegar, and a turn towards the practice of witchcraft. In this fantastic turn of events we find a hilarious exposition of the lengths a woman must go to escape the burdens placed upon her by society at the turn of the twentieth century. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

First published in 1926, "Lolly Willowes" is Sylvia Townsend Warner's satirical feminist comedy of manners. Set in the first part of the twentieth century, the novel concerns the aging spinster Laura Willowes who comes to live with her elder brother and his family in London following the death of her father. After many years of living in the shadow of her controlling family, Laura, while shopping for flowers, on a whim decides to break free and move to the English countryside. Her destination is the town of Great Mop in the Chiltern Hills northwest of London. Her escape from the duties her family imposes upon her is soon foiled when her nephew Titus decides to abandon the family business and moves to Great Mop to become a writer. What follows is a pact with the devil, the adoption of an emissary of Satan which comes in the form of a cat named Vinegar, and a turn towards the practice of witchcraft. In this fantastic turn of events we find a hilarious exposition of the lengths a woman must go to escape the burdens placed upon her by society at the turn of the twentieth century. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

'A great shout of life and individuality ... an act of defiance that gladdens the soul' Guardian Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But Lolly has a greater, far darker calling than family: witchcraft. 'The book I'll be pressing into people's hands forever . . . It tells the story of a woman who rejects the life that society has fixed for her in favour of freedom ... tips suddenly into extraordinary, lucid wildness' Helen Macdonald 'Witty, eerie, tender ... her prose, in its simple, abrupt evocations, has something preternatural about it' John Updike

'A great shout of life and individuality ... an act of defiance that gladdens the soul' Guardian Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But Lolly has a greater, far darker calling than family: witchcraft. 'The book I'll be pressing into people's hands forever . . . It tells the story of a woman who rejects the life that society has fixed for her in favour of freedom ... tips suddenly into extraordinary, lucid wildness' Helen Macdonald 'Witty, eerie, tender ... her prose, in its simple, abrupt evocations, has something preternatural about it' John Updike

Intet er helt umuligt for en enlig, midaldrende kvinde med egne midler, erklærer Laura, hvorpå hun siger farvel til sit liv i London som skyggetanten Lolly og flytter på landet. Der er noget mystisk, som drager og lokker hende... Den anerkendte britiske forfatter og musikolog Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) debuterede med Lolly Willowes i 1926. Romanen er sædekomedie, feministisk kampskrift og filosofisk afhandling i ét - og du har med garanti aldrig læst noget lignende. På dansk ved Jens Pedersen.