Why should one half be free to live, while the other is doomed to watch silently from the sidelines? In this visionary collection, Virginia Woolf leads us on a transformative journey through the liberating powers of the mind. From an exploration of why women were barred from writing and under what conditions they might break free, to the solace derived from haunting London's streets, these essays and stories present Woolf at her most impassioned, rendering the pursuit of liberty one of life's most poetic adventures.

Selected from the booksA Room of One's Own,The WavesandStreet Haunting and Other Essaysby Virginia Woolf

VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.

A series of short books by the worlds greatest writers on the experiences that make us human

Also in the Vintage Minis series: Loveby Jeanette Winterson Homeby Salman Rushdie Languageby Xiaolu Guo Raceby Toni Morrison

Virginia Woolf was born in London in 1882. After her father's death in 1904 Virginia and her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell, moved to Bloomsbury and became the centre of The Bloomsbury Group. This informal collective of artists and writers exerted a powerful influence over early twentieth-century British culture.

In 1912 Virginia married Leonard Woolf, a writer and social reformer. Three years later, her first novelThe Voyage Outwas published, followed byNight and Day(1919) andJacob's Room(1922). Between 1925 and 1931 Virginia Woolf produced what are now regarded as her finest masterpieces, fromMrs Dalloway(1925) toThe Waves(1931). She also maintained an astonishing output of literary criticism, short fiction, journalism and biography. On 28 March 1941, a few months before the publication of her final novel,Between the Acts, Virginia Woolf committed suicide.