Few writers can boast the brilliant legacy of George Orwell, both in his addition to the English language - Big Brother, Room 101, Doublethink - and through his profound influence on world literature. In this definitive biography, Bowker describes in fascinating detail Orwell's early childhood and Eton upbringing; his time in Burma; his astonishing reportage about poverty in Britain and France; fighting against the fascists in Spain; and the extraordinary success before his death of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Meticulously researched, Gordon Bowker's biography offers the most fully realised account yet of this pivotal literary figure.