A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas (Vintage Classics Woolf Series)

Jan 12, 2026 10:18 PM

Author:Virginia Woolf

'Brilliant interweaving of personal experience, imaginative musing and political clarity' Kate Mosse

Virginia Woolf exposes the prejudices and constraints against which women writers struggled for centuries, and argues for a more equal literary establishment.

This volume combines two books which were among the greatest contributions to feminist literature this century. Together they form a brilliant attack on sexual inequality. A Room of One's Own, first published in 1929, is a witty, urbane and persuasive argument against the intellectual subjection of women, particularly women writers. The sequel, Three Guineas, is a passionate polemic which draws a startling comparison between the tyrannous hypocrisy of the Victorian patriarchal system and the evils of fascism.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HERMIONE LEE

Reviews

One realises afresh the full meaning of originality, the magic of the mind which plays around concrete facts as though they were all spirit. And when it is finished it is with a renewed sense of zest and stimulus that one takes up life again and looks anew at objects which before were only ordinary.

—— Guardian

Brilliant interweaving of personal experience, imaginative musing and political clarity

—— Kate Mosse

Achingly relevant

—— Natasha Walter , Guardian

A very funny, touching first novel. It has a hard comic edge to it that is logical and at the same time extremely diverting

—— Spectator

One would have to look very hard to find a wryer, more lovingly detailed account of intellectual and sexual innocence abroad

—— Jay Parini , New York Times

An alert, witty, unpredictable novel which brings a sharp fresh eye to bear on English character and English compromises

—— Observer

Metroland is a delicious book, sharp and witty and observant

—— The Listener

One of the best accounts of clever English schoolboyhood I've read

—— Times Educational Supplement

Flighty, playful… Barnes succeeds in vividly recreating teenage precociousness, particularly what it feels like to be a young male encountering love and sex

—— Los Angeles Times

A dazzling entertainer

—— New Yorker

Consummately elegant

—— Sunday Times

He writes perceptively about the shift from self-absorbed teenager to adult.

—— The Times

If all works of fiction were as thoughtful, as subtle, as well constructed and as funny as Metroland there would be no more talk of the death of the novel

—— New Statesman

It's one of the best accounts of clever English schoolboyhood I've read

—— Times Educational Supplement

Irony and imagery are deployed with a finesse even Flaubert wouldn't wince at...consummately elegant

—— Sunday Times

Previous Article：Pandora Next Article：The Ghost Writer

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.