Woolf does this sort of thing so well – creating that wonderful sense of connectedness and time passing that we have seen her use before. Each of these chapters begins with a slightly broader view acting as a transition from one year to another – taking in the weather across Britain and delivering a birds eye view of the countryside or London. Each chapter – some longer than others – depicts one day in a particular year within that fifty year period. The Years is the story of the Pargiter family, from 1880 to the ‘present day’ (early 1930s) it represents the span of Woolf’s own life to this point (she was born in 1882). So, despite the fact that I have had The Years on my tbr bookcase for about five years – I knew I would love it, and I did. Conventional is probably what I am most comfortable with, and despite my great love for To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway – Night and Day is probably my favourite of her novels. I still have many of her essays and some short stories to read.

It was also the last of her novels I had to read. It was also the one which was the most popular and sold most widely during her lifetime – and along with Night and Day one of her more conventional novels. The Years was Virginia Woolf’s penultimate novel – the final one though to be published in her lifetime. “Slowly wheeling, like the rays of a searchlight, the days, the weeks, the years passed one after another across the sky.” I have reviewed books by Virginia Woolf before on this blog, but it’s never an easy task – how to talk about a writer like Virginia Woolf? Is it the mark of a genius that we mere mortals struggle to find the right words – perhaps.

The Years by Virginia Woolf