To the Lighthouse

To the Lighthouse is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920.



The novel is set in the Ramsays' summer home in the Hebrides, on the Isle of Skye. The section begins with Mrs Ramsay assuring her 6-year-old son James they should be able to visit the lighthouse the next day. This prediction is countered by Mr Ramsay, who voices his certainty the weather will not be clear. This opinion forces a certain tension between Mr and Mrs Ramsay, and also between Mr Ramsay and James. This particular incident is referred to on various occasions throughout the section, especially in the context of Mr and Mrs Ramsay's relationship.



The Ramsays and their eight children are joined at the house by several friends and colleagues. One of these friends, Lily Briscoe, begins the novel as a young, uncertain painter attempting a portrait of Mrs Ramsay and James. Briscoe finds herself plagued by doubts throughout the novel, largely fed by the claims of Charles Tansley, another guest, who asserts women can neither paint nor write. Tansley himself is an admirer of Mr Ramsay, a philosophy professor.