Eileen by Sylvia Topp: Publication Near

Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp, the first biography of Eileen Orwell, will be in bookshops in October.

Sunday May 12th will be the last day people can order the book in advance and get their names printed inside the book as supporters. Apply here.

While the book will be in bookshops in mid October, pre-orders will be delivered directly to supporter’s home addresses.

George Orwell (Eric Blair) married Eileen O’Shaughnessy in 1936 as he was writing The Road To Wigan Pier. She followed him to Spain and ran the ILP office in Barcelona before helping him escape the NKVD clampdown. It was her earnings in the early part of the war that kept the family, when Orwell could find no work, and later she and Orwell developed Animal Farm, whose progress she would describe to her friend Lettice Cooper. She died during an operation in 1945 soon after they had adopted a son.

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