Jacob's Room centres, in a very ambiguous way, around the life story of the protagonist Jacob Flanders and is presented almost entirely through the impressions other characters have of Jacob. Thus, although it could be said that the book is primarily a character study and has little in the way of plot or background, the narrative is constructed with a void in place of the central character if, indeed, the novel can be said to have a 'protagonist' in conventional terms. The story is told mainly through the perspectives of the women in Jacob's life, including the repressed upper-middle-class Clara Durrant and the uninhibited young art student Florinda, with whom he has an affair.

Virginia Woolf, geboren am 25. Januar 1882 in London und gestorben am 28. März 1941 bei Rodmell nahe Lewes, Sussex war eine britische Schriftstellerin und Verlegerin. Mit ihrem avantgardistischen Werk zählt sie zu den bedeutendsten Autorinnen der klassischen Moderne.