The curious afterlife of Lolly Willowes (2 of 2)

Reasons to read Sylvia Townsend Warner's 1926 classic today

‘It was the only time at which Sylvia could be considered a bestseller, and Lolly Willowes remains the book by which she is imperfectly remembered’ (Claire Harman)

Design for a proposed statue of Sylvia Townsend Warner (with cat just visible) in Dorchester. Photo ©Denise Dutton, sculptor

Hello! I hope you’re having a lovely weekend. We’re currently enjoying very springlike weather in this corner of the UK, and my snap below – of Great St Mary’s in Cambridge earlier this week – shows a madly blossoming miniature cherry tree, despite, or perhaps even because of, its mature age. So it’s very appropriate that this post is about the late-blooming protagonist of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes. Published almost 100 years in 1926, it’s a short novel that packs in an awful lot that makes it relevant today. So in this post I’m going to explore some of those things, and hope you’ll add your own thoughts. This is part of our 20th-century book club series: thanks so much for joining in, and a very warm welcome to all the new subscribers this month. Here’s our updated April- August reading schedule.

Thanks to

Mathew Lyons

for sending me contemporary reviews from 1926. Do read

Harriet

’s excellent article, ‘A Life of One’s Own’ (those words, spoken so passionately by Laura Willowes, MUST have inspired Virginia Woolf’s essay A Room of One’s Own published two years later in 1928.) And if you want more proof that Lolly Willowes is having a moment, see

Simon Haisell

&

Melissa Harrison

’s Notes below (the latter refers to All Fours, the bestselling novel by

Miranda July

– read on to discover more on this novel’s surprising connection to Lolly Willowes).