Wifedom Audiobook By Anna Funder cover art

Wifedom

Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Wifedom

By: Anna Funder
Narrated by: Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood, Jane Slavin
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.88

Buy for $18.88

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Anna Funder (P)2023 Penguin Audio Art & Literature Authors Europe Gender Studies Great Britain Social Sciences Women

Critic reviews

"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)
All stars
Most relevant  
This is a wonderful book beautifully written with a exiting take.

The reading preformance is flawless and the story is both important and well shaped.

Loved it! 👌

One of the best books I have ever read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved the feminist text, the writing in of Eileen to compensate the writing out of her George did. It’s brilliantly thought out, narrated, and balanced.

A brilliant biography of an unseen relationship

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.