Book Bearings
Cover of Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Orlando

  • 226 pages · about 4 hours
  • First published 1928
  • 453 editions
  • Free to read

Bookshop.org links may earn us a commission. It supports independent bookstores and costs you nothing.

1 About this book

Orlando: A Biography is a novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928, inspired by the tumultuous family history of the aristocratic poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West, Woolf's lover and close friend. It is a history of English literature in satiric form. The book describes the adventures of a poet who changes from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history. Considered a feminist classic, the book has been written about extensively by scholars of women's writing and gender and transgender studies.

The novel has been adapted a number of times. In 1981, Ulrike Ottinger adapted it for her film Freak Orlando, with Magdalena Montezuma in the title role. In 1989, director Robert Wilson and writer Darryl Pinckney collaborated on a single-actor theatrical production.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Good for readers who want: fantasy, historical fiction, and a book they can read free online.

  • Fantasy, historical
  • Historical fiction
  • Fantasy
  • England in fiction
  • Characters and characteristics
  • Textual Criticism
  • Men
  • English Manuscripts

2 Read it free, right here

A free scan from the Internet Archive opens right here on the page, with no sign-up.

Read it on the Internet Archive

3 About Virginia Woolf

1882–1941

Adeline Virginia Woolf ( "wolf"; née Stephen; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Virginia Woolf was born in South Kensington, London, into an affluent and intellectual family as the seventh child of Julia Prinsep Jackson and Leslie Stephen.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

4 More by Virginia Woolf

5 Similar books

Find a book that fits your moment