Olivia

Perfectly captures the breathless excitement of adolescent passion

Sarah Waters

A remarkable novel which is unique in its presentation of the female mind and emotions in teachers and pupils at a girls' school. It has a strange combination of strength and delicacy

The Times

It is the story of an overheated emotional glasshouse, of an awakening and febrile yearnings, of the anguished decoding of tiny signals of intention from the beloved, of fervid alliances and bitter jealousies between two factions of girls, and the falling out of the two teachers they adore, with a shattering conclusion

Guardian

The chapter from Dorothy Strachey's Olivia, which deals with the well-worn topic of a schoolgirl's love for her teacher, seems fresh and beautifully done

Julie Burchill, Sunday Times

A narrative of sheer emotion... Olivia achieves the purity of classic tragedy

New York Times Book Review

Extraordinary...as accomplished and perfect as possible in its feeling, its decorum and tact, its secret lyricism...in its quality at the same time of modesty and candour

André Gide