D. J. Taylor

George Orwell

A brand-new edition of Orwell’s savage satire of the Soviet Revolution—with an introduction and annotations by acclaimed Orwell scholar D. J. Taylor. First published in 1945, just as the allied forces had begun to parcel up the post-war world, Orwell’s satire of the Soviet Revolution was instantly acclaimed as a Cold War classic. Set in the English countryside in the early years of the twentieth century, this is the story of a rebellion that fails, carried out by revolutionaries who all too swiftly turn into the thing they were trying to destroy. This new edition includes an introduction, extensive annotations, an appendix containing original responses to the novel, as well as letters and documents from the period in which Animal Farm was written.

A Novel

Animal Farm

A Victorian Mystery

Kept

Assembling a cast of real and imaginary characters in a terrifying reinvention of history, this dramatic novel, set in 1939 London, reveals the existence of a secret organization determined to derail the war effort against Nazi Germany during Edward VIII's reign as King of England.

The Windsor Faction

Winner of the Whitbread Biography Award: A “profoundly moving [and] definitive” portrait of George Orwell, author of 1984 and larger-than-life literary genius (The Daily Telegraph). It was not easy to bury George Orwell. After a lifetime of iconoclasm, during which he professed no interest in religion and no affiliation with any church, he asked to be buried in an Anglican churchyard—but none would have him. Orwell’s friends fought for him to have a proper grave, however, and the author of 1984, Animal Farm, and Homage to Catalonia, among other brilliant works of prose, poetry, and journalism, was laid to rest in a quiet country cemetery. Almost immediately, his legacy was in dispute. Orwell did not want any biographies written of him, but that has not stopped scholars from trying. Of all those published since the author’s death in 1950, D. J. Taylor’s prize-winning book is considered the most definitive. Born in India, Orwell spent his forty-six years of life traveling the British Empire and confronting the world head on. From the trenches of Spain to the top of bestseller lists, Taylor presents Orwell fully—as a writer, social critic, and human being.

The Life

Orwell

Nervously monitored from a twelfth-floor eyrie near Blackfriars, Scott Marshall’s world looks as if it’s falling apart. It’s late 1990 in the City of London, the Iraqis are in Kuwait, the Old Lady’s sick (Mrs Thatcher, not the Bank of England) and the wild times are over. The only thing a thirtysomething Anglo-American with a job at KLS, the legendarily predatory management consultants, an eating phobia and some exalted social connections can do is sit tight and weather the storm. Walham Town, the struggling fourth division football side (‘We’re not one of your glamour clubs’) now launched on an unlooked-for cup-run by their megalomaniac chairman, seems a safe bolt-hole. But Walham’s shattered finances harbour a nest of deceit and subterfuge. Meanwhile, secretive, anonymous Miranda is steadily rearranging Scott’s emotional life, his father’s plans to visit have released all kinds of ghosts from their shared past, and his boss’s intrigues with a brace of City cronies may or may not rebound to his advantage. As these parallel lines start to converge, Scott’s position turns ever less secure. The arrival of Scott’s ailing father, with some bizarre ideas on how to spend his vacation, could hardly come at a worse moment. . . Taking place on a pontoon bridge between America and England and supplying an insider’s view of how the City works, D. J. Taylor’s third novel is a penetrating examination of national identity (on both sides of the Atlantic), missed connections in family life, and the way we behave to the people we love.

English Settlement

The essential backstory to the creation and meaning of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, one of the most important books of the 20th century--and now the 21st Since its publication more than 70 years ago, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four has been regarded as one of the most influential novels of the modern age. Politicians have testified to its influence on their intellectual identities, rock musicians have made records about it, TV viewers watch a reality show named for it, and a White House spokesperson tells of "alternative facts." The world we live in is often described as an Orwellian one, awash in inescapable surveillance and invasions of privacy. On Nineteen Eighty-Four dives deep into Orwell's life to chart his earlier writings and key moments in his youth, such as his years at a boarding school, whose strict and charismatic headmaster shaped the idea of Big Brother. Taylor tells the story of the writing of the book, taking readers to the Scotland Island of Jura, where Orwell, newly famous thanks to Animal Farm but coping with personal tragedy and rapidly declining health, struggled to finish the novel. Published during the Cold War--a term Orwell coined--Taylor elucidates the environmental influences on the book. Then he examines Nineteen Eighty-Four's post-publication life, including its role as a tool to understand our language, politics, and government. In a current climate where truth, surveillance, censorship, and critical thinking are contentious, Orwell's work is necessary. Written with resonant and reflective analysis, On Nineteen Eighty-Four is both brilliant and remarkably timely.

A Biography

On Nineteen Eighty-Four

A literary tour-de-force ranging from the American frontier to Edwardian England and the decadent carousing of the bright young people of London’s Jazz Age. 1904. A pretty young woman travels apprehensively across the American prairies; on a whim she makes a bold decision, grabbing her future with both hands. A quarter of a century later, in the brightly colored world of London high life, Alice Keach is queen among society hostesses. Her face stares from every gossip column. Behind her lie a marriage to a wealthy landowner and a career as a celebrated actress. But Alice has a secret, whose roots run five thousand miles away to that Kansas train ride, and a chain of connection with the potential to blow her comfortable existence apart. Ranging from the Dakota Badlands to the drawing rooms of Mayfair and the casting couches of the Edwardian theater, Ask Alice is a remarkable novel that confirms D. J. Taylor as a writer of the highest intellect, vision, and imagination.

D. J. Taylor

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