To the Lighthouse is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres
on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland
between 1910 and 1920. The novel recalls childhood emotions and
highlights adult relationships. Among the book's many tropes and themes
are those of loss, subjectivity, the nature of art and the problem of
perception. In 1998, the Modern Library named To the Lighthouse No.
Ramsay bring their eight children to their summer home in the Hebrides
(a group of islands west of Scotland). Across the bay from their house
stands a large lighthouse. Six-year-old James Ramsay wants desperately
to go to the lighthouse, and Mrs. Ramsay tells him that they will go the
next day if the weather permits.