It's the day of their thirtieth anniversary, and Richard Dalloway has arranged a surprise party for his wife, Clarissa. But as he leaves their house in Westminster to buy flowers, his thoughts turn to Robert Davies-a young editor with whom he has been having an affair for many years. Tired of Richard's efforts to contain their relationship, Robbie has exposed their affair in a letter to Clarissa, who tells her husband that she "understands." Despite his misgivings, Richard finds himself on his way to Robbie's house-only to be shaken by the discovery that Robbie isn't there. As in Virginia Woolf's original novel, Mr. Dalloway takes place within a single day, unfolding with a simultaneity of events: Clarissa walks in London and remembers her courtship with Richard; their daughter Elizabeth searches for answers about her eccentric history tutor's somewhat mysterious and premature death; and a determined and drunken Robert Davies decides to crash the Dalloway's party, dressed all in white satin. As Woolf's literary creation is reshaped into a completely new story, Mr. Dalloway rides forward on waves of a masterfully complex and musical prose, full of wit, linguistic verve, and startling imagery.
