Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Summary
Peter wakes with the words “the death of the soul.” Images crowd thick and fast, as the narrator relates Peter’s dreams. The words Peter spoke as he awakened are connected to his dreams about Bourton, and the summer long ago when he loved Clarissa. A minor scandal about class and marriage caused a rift that stuck in Peter’s mind. He thinks of it as the beginning of the end for so many perfect friendships. He remembers Clarissa’s close relationship with Sally Seton, despite the difficulties that arose between them.

Richard Dalloway comes into Peter’s thoughts, as the man he was sure that Clarissa would marry; Peter was right. The pain he felt, even at that moment, was intense, and what happened over the next few days did nothing to lessen...