A party of English people are aboard the Euphrosyne, bound for South America. Among them is a young girl, Rachel Vinrace, innocent and wholly ignorant of the world of politics and society, books, sex, love and marriage. She is a free spirit half-caught, momentarily and passionately, by Terence Hewet, an aspiring writer, but her greatest discovery will be her own self. Virginia Woolf's first novel, published in 1915, is a haunting exploration of a young woman's mind, signalling the beginning of her fascination with capturing the mysteries and complexities of the inner life.''-- Back cover.