Rough Waters

In Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus Smith has trouble crossing the street. Set over the course of one day, the narrative follows the shell-shocked veteran as he battles with flashbacks to the First World War. His wife, Rezia, chaperones him around London in search of a distraction. When a car backfires, pale-faced Septimus feels everything stop: “The world wavered and quivered and threatened to burst into flames.”

Adam Dumont, the protagonist of Fanny Britt’s Woolfian Sugaring Off, suffers from a shell shock of his own, though his PTSD stems instead from a distinctly modern episode. For the forty-seven-year-old chef and television host, a trip to Martha’s Vineyard quickly turns from a luxury vacation into a personal hell. While attempting to surf, he collides with Celia, a local teenager, leaving her with a severely dislocated knee and a hefty medical bill. In the following days, Adam oscillates between shame and anger, shifting the blame...