Wifedom – Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder

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Wifedom - Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder: Book of the Week: Ep 1 - Suffolk,1936 and Sydney, 2017

Wifedom - Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder

Book of the Week: Ep 1 - Suffolk,1936 and Sydney, 2017

BBC Radio 4 - Wifedom - Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder, Book of the Week: Ep 1 - Suffolk,1936 and Sydney, 2017

The life of Eileen, George Orwell's forgotten first wife, is uncovered.

In Anna Funder's revelatory biography of Eileen, George Orwell's forgotten first wife, we discover a sharp, witty and fearless woman. Fenella Woolgar reads.

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

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Drama: Biographical

Anna Funder's genre-bending biography of Eileen, George Orwell's forgotten first wife.

Book of the Week. Anna Funder's genre-bending biography of Eileen, George Orwell's forgotten first wife, reveals a sharp, witty and fearless woman. Fenella Woolgar reads.

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Wifedom - Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder

Book of the Week: Ep 1 - Suffolk,1936 and Sydney, 2017

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