AustLit

'Michelle Cahill’s Daisy & Woolf is a novel that centres on Daisy Simmons, the “dark, adorably pretty” marginal character with whom Peter Walsh declares himself in love in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (Woolf 172). The story unfolds via a compilation of letters and diary-entry-style chapters shifting between the 1920s (Daisy’s experiences) and the late 2010s—where writer Mina reflects on the process of telling Daisy’s story. First and foremost, Daisy & Woolf is interested in examining and challenging “Anglo-centric histories and fictions” through its engagement with Woolf’s novel and characters, but much like its characters, the story roams far beyond this central focus in numerous directions. Cahill ruminates on writing and publishing, sexuality, gender, motherhood, technology, the passage of time and mental health—a list that overlaps significantly with the concerns of Woolf’s work (see Showalter).' (Introduction)