The Waves

Virginia Woolf’s The Waves is one of her most experimental and poetic novels. Instead of a traditional plot, the book unfolds through a series of interior monologues spoken by six characters: Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny, and Louis. A seventh figure, Percival, is central to their lives, though he never speaks directly.

The novel is structured in nine sections, each beginning with a lyrical description of the sea and the changing light from sunrise to sunset. These interludes mirror the characters’ emotional and psychological development across different stages of life.