![]() ![]() It is confusing gruesome complex and most of all, unexplainable and irrational. While heart warming to read, that isn’t the shape that love actually takes. It beats strong in the hearts of the characters, leaving them with no ounce of doubt of its presence. Most love stories, which Night and Day essentially is, make love seem like this clear and easy to recognize feeling. It creates this uncertainty about what is actually going on and who is actually in love with who, but perhaps that is exactly the point. My one and only complaint with this novel is how long and drawn out it becomes with the will-they won’t-they shifts in plot. Mary Datchet remains single, yet satisfied with her social justice work. They become engaged, and so do Ralph and Katharine. Eventually, William realizes his love for Katharine’s cousin Cassandra Otway. All the while, Ralph Denham is infatuated with her and she becomes increasingly so with him. ![]() ![]() The plot in a nutshell: Katharine Hilbery wants freedom, so she becomes engaged to William Rodney. The changing of attitude toward the institution of marriage and what it means to love are brought to the surface through the story of these young characters. It follows the trials of love in pre-World War England of four main characters: the wealthy Katharine Hilbery, poet William Rodney, lawyer Ralph Denham, and suffragist Mary Datchet. Virginia Woolf’s second novel, Night and Day, is largely a story focused on love and marriage. ![]()
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