num_pages: 230
description: A daring, deeply affecting third novel by the author of A Home at the End of the World and Flesh and Blood. In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Samuel, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family. Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date. 
language: English
title: The Hours
titlecomplete: The Hours
characters: Clarissa Vaughan, Dan Brown (The Hours), Richard Brown, Sally (The Hours), Laura Brown, Vanessa Bell, Leonard Woolf, Virginia Woolf, Louis Waters
genres: Historical, Literature, Classics, Literary Fiction, Queer, Novels, LGBT, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary
ratings_count: 138345
places: California, The United States of America, New York City, New York, New York (State), Los Angeles, California, United Kingdom, Richmond, London, England, England
awards: awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Stonewall Book Award
category: Literature, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Ferro-Grumley Award
category: Gay Fiction, awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Lambda Literary Award
category: Gay Fiction, awardedAt: 883641600000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Premio Grinzane Cavour
category: Narrativa Straniera, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Dublin Literary Award
category: Shortlist, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: The Publishing Triangle Award
category: The Ferro-Grumley Awards
publisher: Picador USA