I've had Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, published in 1926, on my to-read list for three years now. Here's the oversimplified premise: An unmarried woman sells her soul to the devil. That was all I needed to know, and I was sold. I have trouble motivating myself to slog through classics, but this one sounded worth it; if Satan himself is a character in the novel, it's probably worth the trouble. I was also drawn to the novel because I love a spinster witch. I wish I could now provide you with a brief history of the spinster witch character in fiction, but I don't know enough, and a quick Google search landed me nowhere, aside from this t-shirt. What I know for sure is that witches/occultists and spinsters noticeably overlap with one another, both in fiction and nonfiction, and I also know for sure that I feel deeply connected to the spinster witch construct. I do find it a bit troubling, because I know that it is sometimes used to stigmatize unmarried women, but it is empowering when claimed or reclaimed or just framed in a positive light. (I should also mention that it's funny. I, a self-identified spinster and a single woman, am tempted to tell every person who asks me if I have a partner that I am in a committed relationship with Satan.)
Witches have literal power. They are badass. They are women on the fringes of society who have a say in how the world works. They don't have social influence, but they have something better: the ability to mess with people who suck. They will be powerful, even if you don't like them, and even if you push them further away from the mainstream. They are connected to nature and to the physical world in a way that nobody else is, and they can manipulate it to their liking. I just love the notion that you can find power (and companionship and fulfillment) on the fringes, like witches do.
I wish that I enjoyed the genre of horror because it could open the door to more witch content, but alas, I hate it. I will not be watching that Sabrina show on Netflix, and I am certainly not willing to put myself through Hereditary; instead, I will slog through classic novels. That is more my speed. I am totally on board with Satan as a literary character, and aside from my beloved spinster witch trope, this was one of the things that most intrigued me about Lolly Willowes. What would he look like? What would he say? Would I encounter dialogue between Satan and other characters? Isn't that just nuts to imagine? And so I began the novel, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Prince of Darkness.
I had it in my head that the novel would spend most of its time exploring Lolly's life as a witch, so I thought El Diablo (not a term Warner uses) would show up much sooner than he did. But he did not take a physical form until at least three quarters through the novel, and honestly, he was disappointing. Just not super memorable. Lolly Willowes is the real star of this narrative, as she should be, and Warner spends the bulk of the novel gradually leading up to all the devil stuff.
Before Satan
The story begins in 1902, when Lolly is in her late twenties and living with her father at Lady Place (their home has a name). When he dies, she is passed on to whichever other male family member will have her, and she ends up in London with her brother Henry, his wife, and their children. (Their home also has a name, but I forgot it.) Her life is a real domestic snoozefest, and she falls into the traditional feminine role of woman as caretaker. This is literally... half the novel. We witness Aunt Lolly's boring life. And I loved it? I must say that I am predisposed to enjoying stories of people's mundane domestic lives, but this just had a little something special. I had a lot of fun reading about the prim life that her family imposed upon her, since I knew that she would eventually find redemption in the arms of Satan. But even if this hadn't been a classic, and even if I hadn't known of the Satanic plot line before reading it, Lolly is a delightful character, and she provides enough appeal on her own. No Satan required.
In the present day, there is a ton of pressure to have a romantic partner, and there is some pressure to get married. And it depends what social circle you're in, but there are often "deadlines" and age-related stigma. Now, multiply all of this by a million, and that's how much more severe the pressure was during Lolly Willowes's time. Actually, calling it pressure is too subtle. It is a rigid expectation, a mandate, an unstoppable, unavoidable, foregone conclusion that all women get married and start a family. They don't get to decide if they will or will not. It's just what they do. And guess who does not give a single shit? Our girl Lolly Willowes.
Lolly is steadfast. She is unflappable. If you invite a man to have tea with her, she will say something really weird and make it so awkward that he has to leave. (This does happen in the novel.) She does not seem to have any shame about being an unmarried woman of a certain age, and she is in touch with what she wants out of life. If she had a husband and children, she would not be able to walk through the countryside while the sun sets, spend the night asleep in a ditch, and walk home when the sun rises. (This also happens in the novel.) This is what she wants, and she gets more clarity about it as the first half of the novel progresses.
As the pre-Satan portion of the story unfolds, Lolly experiences a progressively stronger spiritual pull toward nature and toward the countryside. She starts splurging on flowers and studying maps of the area to which she is drawn, which has the wonderfully evocative name of Great Mop, and she generally acts in a way that is "selfish" and therefore unbecoming of a woman. As she moves closer and closer to her great escape, her family starts to notice, and the schism begins, starting with some awkward dinners and coming to a head during the final confrontation between Lolly and her brother Henry, who is kind of in charge of her. (Even though she has no man of her own, or perhaps because she has no man of her own, the patriarchy persists! God forbid a woman have no man to report to!)
Before I continue, I must fangirl a little, because Lolly handles the situation in a beautiful and inspiring way. When she decides that she's finally had it with her family's traditional ways, she tells Henry of her plan to move to Great Mop, refuses to engage with him when he tries to argue with her about it, and demands that he give her her money. Now, I don't know why she couldn't hold onto her own money, and a quick Google search did not tell me whether or not women could have bank accounts in the 1920's, but the point is that Henry had her money, and in this moment, she finally takes what's hers and lives her truth.
The Prince of Darkness Arrives
Lolly arrives and meets some witches and warlocks, who are all excited to welcome her to the team. Then, she is whisked away to dance in a nonconsensual manner that reminded me of the many high school boys who I have witnessed trying to grind with girls without speaking to them first. (Disturbing.) And she is not pleased with the dancing. She is not into it. It reminds her of the balls that she attended during her stuffy, pre-Satan existence! This is not total liberation; it is the same old shit that she has been dealing with all along. I thought, and perhaps she also thought, that she would attend this Sabbath and discover a feeling of belonging and acceptance, but that's not what happens. Satan or no Satan, Lolly is a wallflower at the dance.
After her initiation into the devil club, her countryside life basically continues as it was before, aside from the fact that she is psychically linked to the Prince of Darkness. It seems like he can read her mind because he knows who she is angry with, and he messes with them accordingly. I really hoped that Lolly would possess her own magical power and learn how to control it, but I guess they're saving that arc for the sitcom spinoff, because Satan's the only one with powers in this novel. Another man who wears the pants. Again, this is not as big of a change as I had hoped.
A Realistic But Satisfying Ending
As a reader, you can see that there is just one thing complicating her notion of total independence: witches are beholden to Satan. Shortly after she gets away from the patriarchal oversight of her brother, she acquires a new patriarch. Satan is quite different, and her life is much better overall, but it is still not completely her own. Warner points this out in the chilling final sentence of the novel, where she describes the involvement he will have in Lolly's life: "A closer darkness upon her slumber, a deeper voice in the murmuring leaves overhead--that would be all she would know of his undesiring and unjudging gaze, his satisfied but profoundly indifferent ownership." After I closed the novel, I kept on repeating that last phrase to myself: "his satisfied but profoundly indifferent ownership." It's not the darkness or the deep voice in the leaves that I find chilling; rather, it's the ownership. How far is Lolly really getting from the life she knew before? In the 1920's, how far from patriarchy are women able to get?
Saying flat-out that Lolly is still owned by a man makes me feel depressed. But I didn't find the novel depressing at all. Lolly does what she can with what she has where she is, she sticks it to the man (the other men, not Satan), and she creates a better life for herself. She knows enough to want more than the role her family has given her, and she does not waver in her desire to be single, which takes a lot of strength and confidence in who she is. She is untouched by social mores and is willing to be ostracized for not following them. Who cares what other people think if she is living how she wants?
We don't have many characters like Lolly Willowes in 2019. In 2019, most writers do not permit their female characters to be happily single without having that preference thoroughly interrogated. Warner, however, gives no explanation for Lolly's satisfaction. She does not question it or apologize for it. She just creates a strong, idiosyncratic, nature-loving character who also happens to be single forever. In 2019, most female characters are not alone, or even single, at the end of the story. Warner, however, ends the novel with Lolly spending the night in a literal ditch. Lolly is content, and aside from the indifferent gaze of Satan, she is completely alone. This is a satisfying ending. Lolly has fought for this.
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