Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the most famous and influential novels of the 20th century. This terrifying dystopia, which he created in a time of great social and political unrest, remains acutely relevant and influential to this day. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition features an introduction by writer, journalist and Orwell scholar Dorian Lynskey.The year is 1984. The country is impoverished and permanently at war, people are watched day and night by Big Brother and their every action and thought is controlled by the Thought Police. Winston Smith works in the department of propaganda, where his job is to rewrite the past. Spurred by his longing to escape, Winston rebels. He breaks the law by falling in love with Julia and, as part of the clandestine organization the Brotherhood, they attempt the unimaginable – to bring down the Party.

Probably the definitive novel of the 20th century, a story that remains eternally fresh and contemporary . . . Nineteen Eighty-Four has been translated into more than 65 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide, giving George Orwell a unique place in world literature., It’s almost impossible to talk about propaganda, surveillance, authoritarian politics, or perversions of truth without dropping a reference to 1984 . . . It is both a profound political essay and a shocking, heartbreaking work of art., [1984] does what every novel in the genre should do – combining the illumination of an intriguing idea and the telling of a cracking story . . . The book succeeds because it is no manifesto, but an absorbing, deeply affecting story., I read it and found myself absolutely astonished at what I read., Nineteen Eighty-Four is a work of pure horror, and its horror is crushingly immediate.

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in 1903 in India, where his father was a civil servant. After studying at Eton College, he served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma for several years, and this inspired his first novel, Burmese Days. After two years in Paris, he returned to England to work as a teacher and then in a bookshop. In 1936 he travelled to Spain to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, where he was badly wounded. During the Second World War he worked for the BBC. A prolific journalist and essayist, Orwell wrote some of the most influential books in English literature, including the dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four and his political allegory Animal Farm. He died from tuberculosis in 1950.