Wifedom cover art

Wifedom

Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life

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Wifedom

By: Anna Funder
Narrated by: Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood, Jane Slavin
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A blazing, genre-bending masterpiece from one of the most inventive writers of our time

Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own...

When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it's a revelation. Eileen O'Shaughnessy's literary brilliance shaped Orwell's work and her practical nous saved his life. But why—and how—was she written out of the story?

Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells' marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and WW II in London. As she rolls up the screen concealing Orwell's private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer—and what it is to be a wife.

Compelling and utterly original, Wifedom speaks to the unsung work of women everywhere today, while offering a breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the 20th century. It is a book that speaks to our present moment as much as it illuminates the past.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Anna Funder (P)2023 Penguin Audio Art & Literature Authors Europe Gender Studies Great Britain Social Sciences Women Marriage Thought-Provoking War

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Critic reviews

"Funder skilfully deploys fictional techniques to make the material jump off the page: crafted scenes with their own story-arcs, naturalistic dialogue, fully-realised characters with their own plotlines." Independent on Sunday)

"Meticulous and compassionate." (London Review of Books)

"Rigorously researched, tenderly told." (Independent)
All stars
Most relevant
Has made me question my love of Orwell the man. Wonderfully constructed and performed book.

Excellent. An amazing book.

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I loved everything about this: the writing, the performance, the stories. Gripping, thought provoking, sad, exciting, intelligent. Incredible story. I adore the writer’s style and equally the voices of the narrators. Yep, Orwell was some character, obviously very charismatic and eccentric, talented, but so was his wife. Eileen. And though this was another time, we can’t completely excuse his dreadful behaviour . I’m glad to have learned about Eileen.

Quite a read

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A very interesting book that looks at how Orwell wrote out his wife. The beeping between characters does get very tiresome!

Excellent!

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I thoroughly enjoyed following Aileens story. Without having any prior knowledge of her life, I was so shaken by her experience, it’s a book that will live with me for some time.

Absolutely enthralling.

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I loved everything about this one, and then I’m not normally a biography reader really. I both read and listened to the book, and both experiences were great. The narration is perfect.

Wow! Amazing book

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