Republished book depicting the romance between pupil and teacher. You will need to brush up on your French as some of the passages are solely in French. It is a bittersweet tale of first crush and love. There are also many twists and turns.

This is a lovely reprinting of a classic book. A classic of lesbian fiction, Olivia is about a young woman’s crush on her school mistress. It’s rather chaste, ultimately, perhaps in part because Strachey (married and living life in the heterosexual sphere)  knew she would have to field questions about whether the book was autobiographical—and perhaps because of the power dynamics between the two main characters. Much scholarship and speculation exists that the book is a poorly hidden memoir about Strachey’s own life, but I’m not sure anything is gained by this reading. It’s wonderfully, beautifully, straightforwardly written and compelling, and it deserves a place in the canon of coming-of-age books, to be read along with, or perhaps instead of, The Catcher in the Rye.

Olivia was originally published in 1949. Reprinted by Penguin Books 2020. 

A 16 year old girl brought up in a Victorian household is sent to a finishing school in Paris. Her turbulent, emotional journey begins when she meets the headmistress Mademoiselle Julie. Unaccustomed to experiencing strong feelings Olivia is overwhelmed and has trouble controlling her newly lit desires. 

The book is beautifully written. The author perfectly captures the reckless rollercoaster that one feels with their first love. The book is driven by raw emotions, not plot.

To be young and a teenager again when everything felt so serious and impactful.

This Victorian novel explores the sexual awakening of the title character Olivia. In this novel, Olivia's mother has two friends who run a boarding school. When Olivia comes of age she joins the school. She's excited to reinvent herself. At her campus she grows close to some of her teachers. Perhaps too close.

Strachey wrote this book late in life, which gives her perspective for the perspectives of Olivia, Signora, and Mademosielles Julie and Cara. Olivia becomes infatuated with her teacher, an older woman, and is groomed by Signora who is closer to Olivia's age. Signora teaches Olivia how to act and what to expect. She becomes almost a blueprint of what Olivia's ideal future. It's hard to condemn Olivia for her infatuation. Mademoiselle Julie introduces her to new experiences, shows her Paris, rich texts--all of which foreshadows the relationship upheavals and the novel's denouement. However, we should fully condemn Mademoiselle Julie for all of her behavior. Strachey makes her feelings about Mademoiselle Julie clear.

This novel is a classic British Victorian with its polylingual European aristocrats, the examination of cis female gender expression, and loads of introspective brooding prose. The exploration of one's body and how young people see/treat themselves vs how other people see/treat them is expertly portrayed. Strachey is able to write young girls starved for validation, for affirmation without making them vapid or condemning them for their desires.

There is a scene that's so classically British I cannot ignore it. During the party scene, Olivia's mom buys a sari after her trip from India. Olivia wears it as a costume, and Mademoiselle Julie calls Olivia her "little Indian." This is definitely gross but accurately portrays Britain as a colonial power in the 20th century. These rich, white women were able to go to lavish boarding schools and have sapphic sexual awakenings because of the oppression of different communities. Their causal racism further affirms these characters as the social elite of their time evidenced by which cultures they respect and which ones they deem as ornamental. 

This is a book full of emotion. It's loaded with introspection and little action until the last third of the novel, which is typical when compared to its contemporaries. This is a great book for those who love classics, coming of age stories, and sapphic journeys.

Thank you, Penguin Classics, for providing a reading copy in exchange for an honest review.