This book is so fascinating and one of my favourite reads so far this year.

It tells the story of Eileen O’Shaughnessy, often to date in history referred to only as author George Orwell’s ‘first wife’. In an imaginatively constructed melee of historical research, fictional narrative (though based on the research), and personal memoir/reflection, Anna Funder brings to life a woman who played a very significant role in history and literature, and yet is wilfully forgotten by both. Such is the patriarchy.

I was more shocked by the discoveries of this book than I expected to be – not just in some fairly difficult revelations about Orwell’s own conduct towards women in his personal life, but in the means by which Eileen’s role in history was covered up. Funder, in her writing, becomes a connoisseur of ‘reading beyond the passive voice’. If a job came up or an exit visa was found, or indeed a manuscript was planned, edited and typed, you can more or less assume that there is an unnamed woman behind it, doing the work.

There were so many quotes in this book that I would like to save, but have not yet done so because I listened to it as an audiobook, while on the move. For now, one sentence that has really stayed with me is something like ‘we are all part fact and part fiction’. Funder does not set out to vilify Orwell. She is very aware (as an author herself) that writers put their best selves into their work, and they themselves cannot always be their best self. There is a divide between author and work, between ideas put forward and private conduct, between who we are and who we would like to be.

A fascinating book, highly recommend. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐