Mrs. Dalloway

Clarissa Dalloway, a socialite in her early fifties, is preparing for a party she is hosting at her home. In the morning, she goes out for flowers, which she loves very much, and must certainly decorate her home with them by the evening. While walking around London, she reminisces about her youth and first love. In another part of London, Septimus Warren Smith, a World War I veteran suffering from shell shock, is going with his wife Lucrezia to see a psychiatrist. Smith's day intertwines with Clarissa's and her friends' day, their lives converging as the party reaches its climax. Learning of the tragedies surrounding Smith, Clarissa reevaluates her life and attitude towards death.

A masterful novel by Virginia Woolf, in which the past, present, and future merge into one significant day in June 1923.