Orlando - (Faber Illustrated Classics) by Virginia Woolf (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Virginia Woolf's dazzling, time-defying novel of love, identity and transformation, brought to life with breathtaking interior art by Varvara Alay.

Different though the sexes are, they intermix. In every human being a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness, while underneath the sex is the very opposite of what it is above.

Orlando is a charming nobleman, a poet, and a vessel through which truth is exposed. Born in Elizabethan England, his life spans across centuries. He observes the shifting landscapes of history and time, noting these changes as they come. But one morning, he transforms into a woman.

What begins as a fantastical romp through time becomes a profound meditation on gender, freedom and the fluidity of identity. With wit, lyricism and dazzling imagination, Orlando crafts a gender-defying portrait of a soul unbound by society's labels--a bold rebellion against life's binaries that remains radically modern today.

Review Quotes

"Wonderfully bold and inventive."--Observer

"A brilliant book that teaches you so much about identity and love."--Emma Corrin

"A fantasy, impossible but delicious ... an exuberance of life and wit."--The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was an English writer and one of the most distinguished 20th Century modernist authors. Her novels, through their nonlinear approaches to narrative, exerted a major influence on the genre.

Varvara Alay is a graphic designer and illustrator, whose distinctive style is defined by surrealist motifs, bold colours and abstract shapes. She invents highly detailed and endlessly fascinating worlds that blend fantasy and realism in an intricate web of elaborate characters and majectic patterns.