A Bright Cold Day

A pioneering biography of George Orwell told through moments of everyday life

'A fascinating, oblique take... Revelatory and very insightful.' William Boyd, author of The Predicament

When we think about Orwell, we imagine an angular, moustachioed sceptic crouched over a typewriter, who – between puffs on his cigarette – composes effortless streams of prose, unadorned but explosive. We see a man with ‘Important Things to Say’ about: the slow creep of authoritarianism; the consequences of all-seeing tech; the fragility of truth.

Much less often do we see him as a person caught up in the business of everyday life. And yet Orwell’s work thrums with the quotidian: the smell of boiled cabbage, the chill of an unheated flat in early spring, the rumbling of old pipes.

A Bright Cold Day reveals how the principles that govern us begin in the mundane. From waking and showering to breakfast, work, lunch, the pub, sleep and dreaming, Orwell was never dulled to the routines of living. And in the details of the day, we can understand how power, money, freedom and choice play out, not just for Orwell’s literary characters, but for us all.

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'Summons one of the biggest questions we face nowadays, the relationship between fiction and reality.' Andrew O'Hagan, author of Caledonian Road

'A clever, offbeat history of mid-century Britain through George Orwell’s eyes.' Helen Lewis

'An astute and intimate portrait of George Orwell.' Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry of Truth

'Beautifully written... urgent and compelling.' Emma Smith, author of Portable Magic