©2025 Fable Group Inc.

Lolly Willowes

By Sylvia Townsend Warner & Mona Awad
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner & Mona Awad digital book - Fable

Why read on Fable?

Discover social reading

Chat inside the ebook with emojis, comments and more

Annotate with notes, tabs, and highlights

Share or keep your notes private with our annotation features

Support the World Literacy Foundation

We donate 20% of every book sale to help children learn to read

Publisher Description

A satirical feminist classic about a woman who leaves her stifling place in her brother’s London home for the wilds of the English countryside, where she meets and makes a deal with the devil himself—with an introduction by Mona Awad, author of Bunny

Lolly Willowes calls for ‘a life of one’s own’ three years before Virginia Woolf’s impassioned cry for a room. . . . An elegantly enchanting tale that transcends its era.”—The Guardian


Laura “Lolly” Willowes is an unmarried, middle-aged woman in early-twentieth-century London—a spinster who has lived with, and in service of, her brother’s overbearing family for the past twenty years. With her brother’s children now grown and out of the house, Lolly shocks her family by making a choice for herself: to move, alone, to the English countryside.

Once she arrives, Lolly carves out a life in this lush and wild land, finding independence and peace that she has never before experienced. Unfortunately, the family can’t quite let go of Lolly, and her nephew shows up unannounced to move in with her. So long ruled by her family’s wishes, Lolly makes a rash decision, turning to the Devil himself to solve her problems. With a subversive wit, Sylvia Townsend Warner poses the question: What would a woman do to ensure her freedom?

The Modern Library Torchbearers series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.

No Reviews

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Error Icon
Save to a list
0
/
30
0
/
100
Private List
Private lists are not visible to other Fable users on your public profile.
Notification Icon
Fable uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB