The Waves

Virginia Woolf’s innovative modernist novel following a group of friends loosely based on her own literary circle

A Penguin Classic

The Waves traces the lives of a group of friends through their development from childhood to middle age. While social events, individual achievements, and disappointments form its narrative, Woolf’s renowned modernist work is most remarkable for the rich, poetic language that expresses the inner lives of its characters: their aspirations, their triumphs and regrets, their awareness of unity and isolation. Separately and together, they query the relationship of past to present and the meaning of life itself.