
Wifedom
Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life
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Narrated by:
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Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood
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Jane Slavin
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By:
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Anna Funder
This is the story of the marriage behind some of the most famous literary works of the 20th century —and a probing consideration of what it means to be a wife and a writer in the modern world
"Simply, a masterpiece...Funder not only re-makes the art of biography, she resurrects a woman in full." —Geraldine Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author of Horse
At the end of summer 2017, Anna Funder found herself at a moment of peak overload. Family obligations and household responsibilities were crushing her soul and taking her away from her writing deadlines. She needed help, and George Orwell came to her rescue.
"I’ve always loved Orwell," Funder writes, "his self-deprecating humor, his laser vision about how power works, and who it works on." So after rereading and savoring books Orwell had written, she devoured six major biographies tracing his life and work. But then she read about his forgotten wife, and it was a revelation.
Eileen O’Shaughnessy married Orwell in 1936. O’Shaughnessy was a writer herself, and her literary brilliance not only shaped Orwell’s work, but her practical common sense saved his life. But why and how, Funder wondered, was she written out of their story? Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder re-creates the Orwells’ marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War in London. As she peeks behind the curtain of Orwell’s private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer—and what it is to be a wife.
A breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the twentieth century, Wifedom speaks to our present moment as much as it illuminates the past. Genre-bending and utterly original, it is an ode to the unsung work of women everywhere.
*Includes a downloadable PDF of photographs and notes from the book
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 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Simply, a masterpiece. Here, Anna Funder not only re-makes the art of biography, she resurrects a woman in full. And this in a narrative that grips the reader and unfolds through some of the most consequential moments--historical and cultural--of the twentieth century." —Geraldine Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author of Horse
"A marvelous book . . . I just loved it all, and have a permanently marked-up, dog-eared copy on my shelf for the next generation." —Tom Hanks
"Funder is a boundary-breaking, risk-taking writer whose previous books synthesized memoir, fact and imagination to impressive effect. . . . At her best, Ms. Funder shows that radical compassion—which is not the same as forgiveness—will move one closer to understanding, in marriage and biography, every time." —Donna Rifkind, The Wall Street Journal
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Sad but undoubtedly accurate
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Wonderful book. Sounded like theatre
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a different perspective
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Hearing rather than reading brought it to life
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I especially appreciated Funder’s connection of patriarchy, colonial imperialism, and racism as forces that attempt to impose control over those women, countries, and races with less power than their oppressors.
Intriguingly compelling!
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Skillful and provocative
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not sure how i come across this one, would have been better to skip this one. some redeeming qualities in seeing how hard it is to write a good story.
very difficult
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