Lolly Willowes

Penguin Modern Classics

By: Sylvia Townsend Warner

Narrated by: Olivia Darnley

Brought to you by Penguin.

Lolly Willowes, so gentle and accommodating, has depths no one suspects. When she suddenly announces that she is leaving London and moving, alone, to the depths of the countryside, her overbearing relatives are horrified. But Lolly has a greater, far darker calling than family: witchcraft.

'The book I'll be pressing into people's hands forever . . . It tells the story of a woman who rejects the life that society has fixed for her in favour of freedom ... tips suddenly into extraordinary, lucid wildness' Helen McDonald

'Witty, eerie, tender ... her prose, in its simple, abrupt evocations, has something preternatural about it' John Updike

'A great shout of life and individuality ... an act of defiance that gladdens the soul' Guardian

© Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critic reviews

A great shout of life and individuality. (Justine Jordan)

The book I'll be pressing into people's hands forever is Lolly Willowes [. . .] Starting as a straightforward, albeit beautifully written family saga, it tips suddenly into extraordinary, lucid wildness. (Helen McDonald)

Sylvia Townsend Warner moves with sombre confidence into the realm of the supernatural, and her prose, in its simple, abrupt evocations, has something preternatural about it (John Updike)