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Revered across the globe as an author of compelling novels, journalism, and essays that came to define the twentieth century, George Orwell was anunmatchedpolitical visionary, shining a light on the insidious nature of propaganda. Yet this chronicler of war,social injusticesand urban poverty spent his later years livingina rustic abandoned farmhouse that was miles from the nearest neighbour.His rural escapewas on the remote Scottish island of Jura - another paradox, given that he had harbored anirrational prejudice against Scotland for much of his life.
In 1946, Orwell arrived at his isolated home of Barnhill as a grieving widowerlivingin the shadow of war and the nuclear threat. It was there he wrote hismasterpiece,Nineteen Eighty-Four.Beyond the writing desk, he was transformed: his new life was one of natural beauty and tight-knit community - and he grew to love a corner of the world that he had once dismissed.
Orwell's Islandcasts important new light on a great modern thinker and author.No previous biography has revealed so much about Orwell's later years or his time on Jura, despite this being where he created Big Brother, the Thought Police and Room 101 - creations still in common currency today.
Critic Reviews
'As compelling and concise as Orwell himself, nothing escapes Wilson’s forensic pursuit. I felt as though I was a mere couple of steps behind the man … a dutiful and beautiful homage to one of our most enduring writers.'
-- Cathy MacdonaldAbout the Author
A former political journalist, Les Wilson has written a novel and several history books: Islay Voices, The Drowned and the Saved: How War Came to the Hebrides (winner of a Scotland's National Book Award) and Putting the Tea in Britain: How Scots Invented our National Drink. He serves as Creative Director of Caledonia TV, directing and executive producing documentaries on Scottish history, the British monarchy (Scotland's War, The Enchanted Glass), and many programs in the Scottish Gaelic language on literature and arts.
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