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Wifedom
- Author
- Anna Funder
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 17 August 2023
- Run Time
- 12 hours 40 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Autobiography: writers, Feminism and feminist theory, Social discrimination and social justice, Gender studies: women and girls
- Rating
- 5.0 (2 reviews)
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What to expect
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.
PRAISE FOR ANNA FUNDER
'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
©2023 Anna Funder (P)2023 Penguin Audio
Critics Review
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A marvelous book . . . I just loved it all, and have a permanently marked-up, dog-eared copy on my shelf for the next generation.
Tom Hanks
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Simply, a masterpiece. Here, Anna Funder not only re-makes the art of biography, she resurrects a woman in full.
Geraldine Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
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Truly wonderful... Anna Funder has written another brilliant human portrait.
Claire Tomalin
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Electrifying... Daring in both form and content, Funder's book is a nuanced, sophisticated literary achievement
Kirkus
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A strikingly original study that casts Orwell in new light. Deeply perceptive, it is testament to forgotten wives of famous men everywhere.
Julia Boyd
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Furious and fascinating
The Times
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Astonishing... Wifedom is no less than the rescue of a remarkable woman from the deliberate ellipses of default male history.
Caroline Criado-Perez, bestselling author of INVISIBLE WOMEN
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Taylor's updated life will send readers back to Orwell's compelling visions of state power and surveillance with fresh appreciation. Still, it is Funder's evocation of Eileen's fugitive life that haunts this reader's imagination. It is a spellbinding achievement
FT
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An utter triumph, and nothing short of a miracle
Anne Summers
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Wonderful, unexpected and exciting from beginning to end
Antonia Fraser
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 4.5
- No written reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Anna Funder
- Narrator
- Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood, Jane Slavin
- Duration
- 12 hours 40 minutes
- Release Date
- 17 August 2023
- ISBN
- 9780241556788
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- Autobiography: writers, Feminism and feminist theory, Social discrimination and social justice, Gender studies: women and girls
- Rating
- 5.0(2 reviews)
- Narration
- 4.5(2 reviews)
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin.A blazing, genre-bending masterpiece from one of the most inventive writers of our timeLooking 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.PRAISE FOR ANNA FUNDER'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©2023 Anna Funder (P)2023 Penguin Audio
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