Olivia
Chloe’s laboratory colleague in the invented novel, with scientific work and children to return home to.
The book
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeOlivia appears in the fragments of Mary Carmichael’s invented Life's Adventure discussed in A Room of One's Own. Her laboratory work and family responsibilities give the narrator an example of a woman whose life extends across several kinds of relationship.
How the book draws them
- A colleague whom Chloe likesOlivia is the woman named in Mary Carmichael’s statement about Chloe’s liking. The narrator considers what becomes possible when fiction attends to such relationships.
- Scientific workOlivia shares Chloe’s work preparing liver in a laboratory. The passage connects their task with research on pernicious anemia.
- An ordinary working gestureChloe watches Olivia put a jar on a shelf. Woolf makes this small action part of the discussion about experiences that fiction has often overlooked.
- Work followed by childcareOlivia says that it is time to go home to her children. The narrator has described one laboratory worker as married with two small children, then identifies Olivia through this departure.
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