Anna Funder has already garnered international praise for her non fiction (Stasiland) and fiction (All That I Am)

In Wifedom, she does something new and bold, creating a hybrid of genres that brings together biography, memoir, fiction and feminist critique in what she calls ‘an intervention’ that examines how George Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy came to be erased from the many biographies of her husband.

Though very much a crucial partner and collaborator in his political activism against the fascists in Spain as well as in his writing, few traces of Eileen are to be found.

Funder, an avowed Orwell admirer, brings O’Shaughnessy out from the shadows and portrays her as a sharp, resourceful and calm partner under pressure, who is also an intellectual match for her husband. Funder questions the silence that has enveloped O’Shaughnessy for too long: is it deliberate, or simply the symptom of general oversight explained by the sexism of the times?

At times furious and at times funny, this is biography at its most creative and thought-provoking, forcing the reader to re-assess the reputation of one of the most admired writers of his time. Wifedom is a game changer.

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