Orlando tells the story of an extraordinary individual who lives through centuries of English history, first as a man, then as a woman; of his​/​her encounters with queens, kings, playwrights, poets, and critics and of his​/​her struggle to find fame and immortality not through actions, but through the written word. At its heart are the life and works of Woolf's friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West, and Knowle, the historic home of the Sackvilles. But was well as being a love letter to Vita, Orlando mocks the conventions of biography and history, teases the pretensions of contemporary men of letters, and wryly examines sexual double standards.

Author

Virginia Woolf