The Widow and the Parrot

Virginia Woolf's short story was written for the family newspaper at the request of her nephews, Quentin and Julian Bell. The manuscript lay hidden for sixty years, until it was rediscovered by Quentin Bell, who tells of the story's origins in an afterword to this edition. The story is a tongue-in-cheek Victorian tale set in Rodmell, the village where Virginia Woolf lived. It contains the moral of kindness to animals, which in this case refers to a large grey parrot called James. This edition is something of a family affair, containing illustrations by Virginia Woolf's grand-nephew, Julian Bell, who himself lives in Rodmell.