{"title":"George Orwell","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"animal-farm","title":"Animal Farm","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eFirst published in 1945, George Orwell’s \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e is a deceptively simple political fable about a revolution that begins with the promise of freedom and ends in a new form of oppression. On Manor Farm, the animals overthrow their human master, Mr Jones, determined to build a society founded on equality and shared labour. Under the leadership of the pigs, particularly the ambitious Napoleon and the eloquent Squealer, their hopes gradually give way to manipulation, privilege and fear. As the original ideals of the rebellion are distorted, the animals discover how easily language can be used to conceal injustice and how power can corrupt even the noblest ambitions.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eWritten during the final years of the Second World War and shaped by Orwell’s disillusionment with Stalinism, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e is both a critique of the Soviet revolution and a broader examination of authoritarian power. Its accessible narrative, memorable characters and devastating irony give the novel a force that extends far beyond its historical moment. The contrast between the pigs’ growing privileges and the steadfast labour of the horse Boxer reveals the human cost of political betrayal, while the farm itself becomes a miniature society in which propaganda steadily replaces truth. Orwell combines the economy of a traditional beast fable with the sharpness of political satire, creating one of the defining works of twentieth-century English literature. Brief, lucid and unsettling, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e remains a powerful study of how revolutions lose their way when those who claim to speak for the people become more concerned with preserving their own authority.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63903446663498,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"nineteen-eighty-four","title":"Nineteen Eighty-Four","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eFirst published in 1949, George Orwell’s \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e is one of the defining novels of modern political fiction, a chilling vision of a society in which power seeks to control not only public behaviour but private thought itself. Winston Smith lives in Airstrip One, a province of the vast superstate Oceania, where the Party governs through constant surveillance, historical revision and the watchful presence of Big Brother. Working at the Ministry of Truth, Winston alters the past to suit the Party’s shifting claims, while privately nurturing doubts about the regime and longing for a life beyond its reach. His forbidden relationship with Julia and his tentative search for resistance lead him into a world where truth is unstable, language is manipulated and even the most intimate human loyalties are subject to political control.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eWritten in the aftermath of the Second World War and shaped by Orwell’s opposition to totalitarianism, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e explores the terrifying possibilities of propaganda, mass surveillance and the deliberate destruction of independent thought. Its inventions, from Newspeak and the Thought Police to the ritualised spectacle of the Two Minutes Hate, have become enduring reference points in discussions of political power and civil liberty. Yet the novel’s force lies not merely in its imagined machinery of oppression, but in its understanding of the human need for truth, privacy and genuine connection. Orwell’s spare, unsparing prose gives the world of Oceania an unsettling plausibility, transforming a political warning into an intimate psychological drama. More than a dystopian classic, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e remains one of the twentieth century’s most influential explorations of what happens when a state claims authority over reality itself.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63903465177418,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"down-and-out-in-paris-and-london","title":"Down and Out in Paris and London","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eFirst published in 1933, George Orwell’s \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eDown and Out in Paris and London\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e is a striking account of poverty, precarious work and life on the margins of two European capitals. Drawing on his own experiences, Orwell follows an impoverished narrator through the back streets of Paris, where he works in the exhausting kitchens of cheap hotels and restaurants, before turning to the precarious existence of tramps and casual labourers in London. From crowded lodging houses and pawnshops to the frantic heat of restaurant kitchens, he reveals a world of physical hardship, social indifference and unexpected camaraderie. His attention rests not on romanticised bohemian poverty, but on the practical realities of hunger, exhaustion, debt and the daily struggle to remain clean, employed and fed.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003ePart memoir, part social investigation, the book established many of the qualities that would define Orwell’s later writing: plainspoken prose, moral clarity, a sharp eye for hypocrisy and an abiding concern for those neglected by respectable society. His experiences among dishwashers, labourers and homeless men challenge the comfortable assumptions of the middle classes, exposing how easily poverty can become a trap from which dignity and opportunity are difficult to recover. Paris and London emerge as contrasting yet connected worlds, their grand cultural reputations set against the hidden labour and deprivation that sustain them. The book also marks the beginning of Orwell’s lifelong engagement with questions of class, inequality and political responsibility, themes that would later inform \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eThe Road to Wigan Pier\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e and \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e. Unsparing yet often darkly humorous, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eDown and Out in Paris and London\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e remains a foundational work of modern social reportage and a vivid portrait of life beyond the margins of respectable society.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63903513739594,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"the-road-to-wigan-pier","title":"The Road to Wigan Pier","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eFirst published in 1937, George Orwell’s \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eThe Road to Wigan Pier\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e is a landmark of British social reportage, documenting the poverty and hardship endured by working-class communities in the industrial north of England during the Great Depression. Commissioned to investigate conditions in Lancashire and Yorkshire, Orwell travels through mining towns, crowded lodging houses and impoverished neighbourhoods, recording the lives of coal miners and their families with unsparing precision. His descriptions of dangerous underground labour, inadequate housing and persistent unemployment reveal the human cost of an economic system that leaves so many people struggling to survive. Written with a journalist’s eye for physical detail and a novelist’s sensitivity to individual experience, the first part of the book offers an unforgettable portrait of a society divided by class and circumstance.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eThe second half turns towards politics, as Orwell examines socialism, class prejudice and the contradictions within the movement seeking to remedy the inequalities he has witnessed. Drawing on his own middle-class upbringing and experiences among the poor, he questions why socialism inspires both genuine idealism and deep suspicion, arguing that social reform must confront not only economic injustice but also the cultural barriers separating people. The book’s original publication by the Left Book Club, accompanied by a preface from publisher Victor Gollancz, reflected the political tensions surrounding Orwell’s sometimes provocative conclusions. It also anticipates the independence of mind that would define his later works, including \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e and \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e. Both a vital historical document and a searching work of political reflection, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eThe Road to Wigan Pier\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e remains essential to understanding Orwell’s lifelong commitment to truth, social justice and the dignity of ordinary people.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63903569051978,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"a-clergymans-daughter","title":"A Clergyman's Daughter","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003eFirst published in 1935, George Orwell’s \u003cem\u003eA Clergyman’s Daughter\u003c\/em\u003e is an experimental and deeply unsettling novel about poverty, social convention and the precarious position of women in interwar England. Its protagonist, Dorothy Hare, is the dutiful daughter of a domineering clergyman in a small English town, whose life is governed by religious obligation, unpaid work and the quiet demands of respectability. When a sudden crisis disrupts her carefully ordered existence, Dorothy finds herself separated from her former life and struggling to survive among strangers, drifting through the streets of London and the hop fields of Kent. Her journey exposes her to the harsh realities of homelessness, casual labour and a society that offers little protection to those who fall outside its narrow expectations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003eUnusual in structure, the novel moves between social realism and more experimental passages that capture Dorothy’s disorientation and vulnerability. Orwell uses her experiences to examine the emptiness of certain forms of religious and social duty, as well as the economic insecurity faced by women with limited independence. The book’s depiction of poverty is characteristically direct, attentive to the humiliations of everyday survival rather than romantic notions of life on the margins. Though Orwell later expressed reservations about the novel, it explores the social concerns also found in \u003cem\u003eDown and Out in Paris and London\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Road to Wigan Pier\u003c\/em\u003e, particularly his interest in class, labour and the people overlooked by respectable society. Less celebrated than his political satires, \u003cem\u003eA Clergyman’s Daughter\u003c\/em\u003e remains a revealing early work, illuminating Orwell’s developing literary methods and his determination to look beyond the comfortable surface of English life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63903671910730,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"keep-the-aspidistra-flying","title":"Keep the Aspidistra Flying","description":"\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eFirst published in 1936, George Orwell’s \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eKeep the Aspidistra Flying\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e is a sharp, darkly comic novel about money, social respectability and the difficulty of living according to one’s principles in a society governed by financial security. Its protagonist, Gordon Comstock, is a struggling poet who rejects the middle-class world of advertising and commercial ambition, abandoning a respectable job in favour of poorly paid work in a bookshop. Determined to resist what he sees as the tyranny of money, Gordon embraces poverty as a form of rebellion, only to discover that his ideals are increasingly compromised by hunger, humiliation and the strain placed on his relationship with Rosemary, a woman who offers him affection and a possible future. As his circumstances deteriorate, his resistance to material comfort becomes entangled with pride, resentment and a growing inability to distinguish independence from self-destruction.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"x12ofw9d\"\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAmong Orwell’s most personal early novels, \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eKeep the Aspidistra Flying\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e draws on his own experiences of precarious literary life and his ambivalent relationship with the English middle class. The aspidistra, a hardy houseplant associated with respectable suburban interiors, becomes a potent symbol of the security and conventionality Gordon despises but cannot entirely escape. Orwell combines social observation with psychological comedy, exposing the contradictions of a man who longs to reject bourgeois values while remaining painfully conscious of status, success and other people’s judgement. Beneath the satire lies a serious question about the relationship between artistic freedom and economic necessity: how much can a person sacrifice in the name of principle before the sacrifice itself becomes another form of vanity? Less widely read than \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e or \u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c!--comp--\u003e\u003c!--for--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--it--\u003e\u003c!--if--\u003e, the novel nevertheless offers a revealing portrait of Orwell’s developing political and moral imagination, as well as an enduring account of the struggle to live honestly within an imperfect world.\u003c!--\/if--\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--\/it--\u003e\u003c!--\/for--\u003e\u003c!--\/comp--\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63903733055818,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/fr\/collections\/george-orwell-1.oembed","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}