The Years is a
novel by Virginia Woolf. It was published in 1937.
Unlike the other later works of Virginia Woolf, this novel has none of the experimental devices of her "stream of consciousness" but rather a conventional family saga. The story recounts the
lives of the Pargiters from 1880 to the late 1930s.
At the beginning, Colonel Pargiter's wife, Rose, is dying. Their
seven children, ranging from early childhood to mid-20s, live under the depressed state of her illness. The first chapter, the
Year 1880, ends with the funeral of Mrs Pargiter.
The subsequent chapters, with many vivid descriptions of London life, trace the lives of each of the seven children in a series but with connected episodes. Each chapter comprises a year, from 1907, through the years of World War I, and to the present in 1936 where a large family reunion occurs.