With grace and style, noted Woolf critic and biographer Julia Briggs reconsiders the author's work from imaginative and unexpected angles, spanning her early fiction experiments to her late short story "The Symbol" and from the most to the least familiar of her novels, such as the neglected Night and Day.

Briggs investigates links between Woolf and writers like Byron and Shakespeare, her fascination with transitional places and moments, her ambivalent attitudes toward "Englishness" and censorship, and her methods of writing and revision. She examines the differences between the original British and American editions of Woolf's texts and the lesser-known changes she made after publication. Briggs's lively and engaging style will appeal to scholars and general readers alike.