Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf

Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf

“Nothing thicker than a knife's blade separates happiness from melancholy.” Playful, provocative, and utterly original, Orlando is Virginia Woolf’s most imaginative novel—a sweeping journey through centuries, identities, and the shifting nature of self. Born a young nobleman in the court of Elizabeth I, Orlando possesses beauty, wealth, and an insatiable love for poetry. As decades pass, Orlando moves effortlessly through the grand halls of history, forming friendships with famous writers, falling in and out of love, and witnessing the changing landscapes of England and beyond. But time, for Orlando, is not fixed—nor is gender. One morning, without warning, Orlando awakens as a woman. What follows is an extraordinary odyssey through the centuries, as Orlando navigates the rigid expectations placed upon women, experiences the joys and frustrations of love, and ultimately arrives in the modern world, still searching for truth, still writing, and still marveling at life’s endless transformations. A celebration of artistic freedom, gender fluidity, and the boundless nature of the human spirit, Orlando defies categorization. Both an intimate character study and a grand historical fantasy, it is as much a meditation on identity as it is a love letter to literature itself. Witty, dazzling, and profoundly ahead of its time, Orlando remains one of Woolf’s most beloved and groundbreaking works—a novel that continues to inspire and enchant generations of readers.