The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay， the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay， together with their children and assorted guests， are holidaying on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Virginia Woolf constructs a remarkable and moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life. One of the great literary achievements of the twentieth-century， To the Lighthouse is often cited as Virginia Woolf's most popular novel.