Lolly Willowes in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 02, 2007 Kay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy_sci-fi, fiction, re-reading, favorites, book-clubs, british_lit

Originally read in Nov. 2000; rereading Sept. 2017. Original review below.
When I read Lolly Willowes, I was enchanted by the delicacy and humor of Sylvia Townsend Warner's prose, and I felt a kinship with the Lolly, a woman who refuses to recede into the background and lead a conventional life. To cut to the chase - she becomes a witch - that is, she gives herself over to the spirit of adventure. The pact she makes with the devil (who appears in the guise of a middle aged man) is of the sort th ...more

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Sep 01, 2022 Damian rated it it was amazing

Absolutely batshit--in the best possible way. Middle-aged, upper middle-class, spinster Aunt, Lolly Willowes, ups and leaves her stultifingly comfortable London life. Her family couldn't be more shocked. She moves to an out of the way little village that she has only ever seen on a map and falls in love with nature again and her own company. Oh, and she meets the Devil and becomes a witch. It is deftly observed and funny and angry and what it has to say about class and gender remain hideously re ...more

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May 13, 2011 mstan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british, src-fall-2011

This book deserves a better reader than me, and I have recommended this to Su-Lin, thinking/hoping that she'd appreciate it much better than I have.

I expected a charming story about a single woman/aunt who, tiring of her relatives' dependence on her, exacts some kind of vengeance through her development as a witch.

Instead, Lolly, who is indeed frequently taken for granted by her siblings and nephews and nieces, moves to an obscure little village, and discovers her powers quite by accident, quite ...more

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