This edition prints in one volume the four key novels of Woolf's most productive decade. Jacob's Room (1922), Virginia Woolf's first truly experimental novel, presents her central character's development through fragments and glimpses. In Mrs Dalloway (1925) a single day in London links the apparently unconnected characters; Woolf evokes their world through a stream of consciousness, which was to influence many subsequent writers. To the Lighthouse (1927), her most autobiographical novel, captures the intensity of childhood longing and delight, the complexity of adult relationships, and the fragility of happiness. The Waves (1931) was conceived and written during Woolf's most political phase. It traces the interactions of seven friends in a sensuous, exploratory narrative. Woolf at all times avoided compromise in her art. Between bouts of serious illness and the demands of family and friends, she produced work which continues to challenge the way we view narrative, and indeed art itself. This book is intended for general readers, possibly students, but no critical apparatus in this edition.