Lolly Willowes

Lolly Willowes or, The Loving Huntsman is a 1925 novel by Sylvia Townsend Warner.

Lolly Willowes, Warner's first story, is the story of a maiden aunt, who decides in her middle years to become a witch. Warner has the gift of holding one's attention even while describing utterly commonplace things, and then slipping in little oddities. For instance,

Mr. Arbuthnot certainly was not prepared for her response to his statement that February was a dangerous month. 'It is,' answered Laura with almost violent agreement. 'If you are a were-wolf, and very likely you may be, for lots of people are without knowing, February, of all months, is the month when you are most likely to go out on a dark windy night and worry sheep.'

Laura (aka Lolly) is refreshingly nonchalant about her pact with Satan. Warner had a lifelong love affair with a woman, Valentine Ackland (1907-1969), and certainly the spirit of independent womanhood suffuses Lolly Willowes - altho it sneaks up on you, in much the same way that Satan might ...

Editions

• 1925
• 1999: Midpoint Trade Books distributor, New York Review Books, 1999, with introduction by Alison Lurie.