Lolly Willowes
Penguin Modern Classics
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Lolly Willowes
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Narrated by:
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Olivia Darnley
About this listen
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.
©1926 Sylvia Townsend Warner (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"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)
What listeners say about Lolly Willowes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 20-05-23
Sympathy for the Devil
I first read this in 1978 and still have my old women’s press copy. Ostensibly this is about witches, but there is much more about the role of older women in society. I was inspired to re-read this after reading Weyward by Emilia Hart. The countryside is both beautiful and macabre and plays an important role. The narration is first rate
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Helen SJ
- 19-03-23
An enchanting witchy story.
I'm not sure how I even found this book but I'm glad I did. Written in an era when women were thought feeble of mind & body and required others to care for them mentally & physically.
This story is about Lolly (Laura) Willowes and how she went about claiming her life and soul back.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Norkel
- 29-11-22
Ahead of its time
I adored this book. It starts as a gentle, if sometimes piercing, satire on post-Victorian upper class family life and turns into something entirely unexpected and brilliant. I think I might be good friends with Lolly, were she real.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Madeliefje
- 08-12-22
Absolutely beautiful!
What a wonderful surprise this turned out to be! Delightful from beginning to end. Mind: this is the kind of beautiful that needs savouring. It is the literary equivalent to slow food. If you're looking for high drama, this is not your kind of book. But for those who enjoy lyrical prose, subtle irony and fine characterisation, this is an absolute treat! Such an original, unexpected and trenchant social critique contained in the twist at the end, too! The narrator also does the book more than justice, a fabulous performance!
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Avril Lamb
- 22-04-21
Delightful tale, Beautifully narrated
An enjoyably witty, strange story of spinsterhood, witchcraft and freedom. The narrator's voice is like liquid gold, just flows through one's mind in such a relaxing way. All over, a great audible experience.,
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ms KJ Thomas
- 11-02-23
Just perfect
One of my all-time favourite books. A wickedly funny, timeless story, beautifully narrated here. Sit back and enjoy!
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Stuart Merchant
- 23-04-23
Beautifully narrated but failed to engage
Reviews seemed promising but gave up halfway through Pt 2 as story didn’t seem to go anywhere . Maybe I should have stuck with it but life’s too short No idea why Audible recommended this one for me
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Grecian
- 24-05-23
I wanted to like it but could not.
Beautifully written and beguilingly read but a feeble story. An allegory for how overlooked individuals can become invisible but too much allegory and too little interesting narrative.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- C. Spencer Weatherley
- 19-08-24
So many words and so little story
Why do I do this to myself?? Modern classics with feminist messages. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Having studied Women's History at Uni, I ought to have known better.
The synopsis of this story is a cosseted but unfulfilled woman reaches menopausal age and decides to become a witch.
An insult to witches everywhere. The story limps on with a day in the life of every jar of jam on the shelf having its boring place in the narrative. It is a sly and provocative psychosis where she imagines all sorts of nonsense as so many feminist writers do and invites us to join in. The highlight is when on a humid day, a jug of milk belonging to her brother goes off. Yes basically that is it. She paints everyone in beige and tries to excite us with her own grey dullness.
A bit like 'The Yellow Wallpaper' or 'Mrs Dalloway' tedious women who we have been duped into paying good money to be bored by. Word salad and no story, insulting to gifted women who are witches, hereditary witches born that way, learned witches, hard working ones. Any spinster can do it apparently and Satan with all the charm of a cheap gigolo says nothing to redeem himself, or the bloody book. Six hours of my life wasted.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- phillipa reed
- 20-05-21
not what expected
not what expected story took far to long to get to the point of the story
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5 people found this helpful