Anna Funder's new book is a revelatory biography of Eileen, George Orwell's forgotten first wife. Here we discover a sharp, witty and fearless woman, who made an astonishing and remarkable contribution to her husband's literary work as well as his daily life. The reader is Fenella Woolgar.

Anna Funder, the award-winning Australian writer, best known for Stasiland and All that I Am, has immersed herself in the scholarship on George Orwell to write Wifedom. Here Funder shines a light on Eileen, Orwell's extraordinary wife. Using newly discovered letters written by Eileen, Funder paints an intimate portrait of a forgotten woman, and one of the twentieth century's most significant literary marriages. She also illuminates the social and cultural values that kept Eileen in the shadows, and continue to shape how the world regards the unsung work of wives everywhere.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Elizabeth Allard Show less