A Passage to India

Night and Day is a love story, but in the able hands of Virginia Woolf it transcends conventional romance to pose a series of crucial questions about women, intellectual freedom, and marriage. The story, set in London before World War I, follows four young people through a maze of misunderstandings as they work their way toward compatibility and love. Katharine Hilbery, the wealthy heroine, is engaged to William Rodney, a government clerk, though she inwardly rebels against the stifling effects of domestic life. She is tempted by Ralph Denham, a lawyer from an inferior social background, who offers a less compromising relationship. He, in turn, is loved by Mary Datchet, who, unlike Katharine, chooses to liberate her sex through social reform. A fifth person, Cassandra Otway, intervenes before the lovers can sort themselves out and arrive at the truth of their emotions.