Lolly Willowes (Penguin Modern Classics)

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Her family attempts all means at their disposal—including emotional blackmail and financial threats—to undermine her resolve; she nevertheless persists and promptly lets a room of her own, ready to begin a new life distinctly, if somewhat tentatively, her own. As the jacket says, "an upper-class spinster rebels against her role as the universal aunt" and how does she do this? What a lovely defense of demanding and then enacting a life lived fully and deliciously and—take the term in whatever sense you prefer— queerly too. Still, there she was, and Henry was right—they had been the proper people to make a home for Laura when her father died, and she was too old now to begin living by herself.

This striking story, published in 1926, perfectly blends a deceptive lightness with a serious argument: that a woman sidelined by life has so little opportunity for escape and respect that she might as well become a witch. Laura Willowes is first a companion to her father and then after his death goes to her brothers household, Aunt Lolly is how she is known from then on. When her father dies, Laura is made to move out of her family home in the country and in with her brother and his family in London.

She is presenting to anyone who reads this novel that life is imprisoning for women in a male dominated world. With her partner Valentine Ackland, she was active in the Communist Party and served in the Red Cross during the Spanish Civil War. How difficult it must have been for Laura to live alongside her, especially given the circumstances. I think she would prefer to get four stars and find her visitors surprised into finding that she's worth every bit of five and more.

If you are a were-wolf, and very likely you may be, for lots of people are without knowing, February, of all months, is the month when you are most likely to go out on a dark windy night and worry sheep. That desire for more independence eventually comes into its own, and from that moment this novel becomes an early anthem to feminism. Warner's political engagement continued for the rest of her life, even after her disillusionment with communism.A shame it's so neglected now and I encourage anyone interested in forgotten "classics," feminist authors, or just a very well-written tale set in England, to seek out this delightful and thought-provoking read. I enjoyed her stories and writing style, and always meant to get around to reading more of her stuff.

This then marks the change from Laura to Aunt Lolly, a role she bore with resentment, but didn’t know how to escape from. I grew up in a household defined by all three of these things, in a state that was defined by their opposites. Lolly Willowes is about these ‘duties’, these obligations, the little things that are not bad in themselves, but accumulating year after year just crush the life out of the most vibrant of personalities. As in Part I, Warner carefully lays the groundwork for Lolly’s encounter with the Prince of Darkness with hints that things aren’t quite what they seem in Great Mop. That’s why we become witches: to show our scorn of pretending life’s a safe business to satisfy our passion for adventure….In France it was shortlisted for the Prix Femina and in the USA it was the very first Book Of The Month for the Book Club.