Publishers Weekly
★ 06/26/2023
Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s first wife, takes center stage in this potent biography. Funder (Stasiland), a former human rights lawyer, suggests that O’Shaughnessy, who married Orwell in 1936 and stayed with him until her death nine years later from a botched hysterectomy, was crucial to Orwell’s success; she typed and edited his manuscripts, managed his correspondence, cooked his meals, nursed him through ill health, tolerated his sexual affairs, and even cleaned the outhouse at their country home. According to Funder, she also directly influenced some of her husband’s most famous work, encouraging him to express his criticism of Stalinism as a satirical novel (Animal Farm) instead of the essay he had planned, and possibly inspiring 1984 with her poem “End of the Century, 1984,” about “a dystopian future of telepathy and mind control.” Funder pulls no punches when discussing Orwell’s cruelty, taking him to task for allegedly demanding that O’Shaughnessy let him sleep with one of the “young Arab girls” he had been eyeing while the pair were traveling in Morocco. Stylistic flourishes enhance the account, most notably the novelistic interludes interspersing Funder’s narration with first-person passages drawn from O’Shaughnessy’s letters that recreate scenes from her life, such as lying ill in London while the city was bombed during WWII. Full of keen psychological insight and eloquent prose, this shines. Photos. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"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
"With the precision of a historian, Funder cobbles together scant details to reconstruct a life. And with the imaginative force of a novelist, she speculates in clearly sign-posted moments on what that life was like. . . .For the first time, in this book, Eileen is given a voice — her voice. . . Wifedom is spectacular achievement of both scholarship and pure feeling." —Jessica Ferri, Los Angeles Times
"A brilliant, creative hybrid of life writing, feminist polemic and literary criticism, which upends the way we read. . . . A dashing addition to a genre of books that bring out of obscurity the women (and occasional man) behind famous writers and artists." —Susan Wyndham, The Guardian (Australia)
"Radical. . . . Funder does a virtuoso performance on the theme, adding personal memoir, some fictional reconstructions and a glittering sense of purpose. . . . [She] squeezes every drop from the sources, to make Eileen real. . . . Funder stresses that she has no wish to “cancel” Orwell, a writer she finds inspiring. Her aim is rather to rescue Eileen and other women from having been canceled themselves.” –Sarah Bakewell, The New York Times Book Review
"[Wifedom] dwells imaginatively upon six letters. . . written by Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, and seeks to liberate her from his shadow — a task that also involves reassessing him . . . . Wifedom is radical in its outlook and distinguished by a creative writer’s imaginative insights. It is composed in elegant, mournful prose that occasionally froths into indignation at the lot of this “invisible worker” and “invisible warrior”. . . . It is a spellbinding achievement." —Jason Harding, Financial Times
"Electrifying. . . . a genre-melding hybrid that allows Eileen’s likeness to be partially recovered through her own words and the testimonies of those who remembered her, as well as reimagined in fictional passages to flesh out the gaps in the record. . . . Wifedom is a vital portrait of a woman whose unseen work was instrumental in the creation of books that became cornerstones of 20th century literature, the extent of her contribution impossible to measure, obscured as it is by the role of 'wife'." —Stephanie Merritt, Observer (UK)
"Now Anna Funder’s fascinating, furious, inventive biography of Eileen takes us more immersively into the Orwell’s world. And Funder is a formidable writer for the job. . . . In Wifedom she blends fiction, biography and autobiography to bring Eileen vividly alive on the page." —Alice O'Keeffe, The Times (UK)
"Elegantly and imaginatively (resurrects) Eileen." —The Economist
"Audaciously brilliant." —Jessie Thompson, Independent (UK)
"In this rattlingly fierce book, Anna Funder sets out to unmask the “wicked magic trick” by which Eileen O’Shaughnessy Blair has been made to disappear…readers will be simply thrilled – and shaken – by this passionately partisan act of literary reparation." —Sunday Times (UK)
"An extraordinary blend of forensic historical detective work and evocative fiction, as well as snatches of memoir. It not only writes O’Shaughnessy back into the story but also questions how far we’ve really come in terms of gender equality. To read about O’Shaughnessy is to fall in love with her." —Radio Times (UK)
"Anna Funder is a premier-league writer who can roll fiction, reportage, criticism and memoir into glinting prose, her sentences like handheld treasures you keep turning over, admiring for their graceful contours and crafted precision." —Marina Benjamin, The Spectator
★"Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s first wife, takes center stage in this potent biography. . . . Stylistic flourishes enhance the account, most notably the novelistic interludes interspersing Funder’s narration with first-person passages drawn from O’Shaughnessy’s letters that recreate scenes from her life. . . . Full of keen psychological insight and eloquent prose, this shines." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ "By dint of extensive research and literary daring, Funder retrieves Eileen from the shadows in a provocative mix of facts and “a fiction that tries not to lie,” using her remarkable subject's vivid letters as prompts for imagined scenes that fill the maddening gaps in Orwell’s autobiographical accounts and those of his biographers. Eileen emerges as a brilliant, funny, resourceful, stoic, hard-working Oxford graduate. . . . Laced with personal reflections and charged with a searing critique of the patriarchy and its smothering of women's lives and legacies, Funder's gripping and insightful portrait of the hidden Eileen Orwell is incandescent." —Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
★ "An electrifying biography of George Orwell’s first wife. . . . [Wifedom] is not a traditional biography but rather a pastiche of Eileen’s letters to her friend Norah Symes, Funder’s invented scenes of the Orwells’ lives, and a first-person account of Funder’s own life as the mother of teenage daughters as the “revelations of #MeToo erupt,” a time of “unspeakable truths.” Eileen is a worthy subject in her own right, but the author ably depicts the balance of power between the Orwells, particularly the way George wrote Eileen out of the narrative. . . . Funder creates a convincing, vivid portrait of Eileen as an irreplaceable font of unpaid labor for George. . . . Daring in both form and content, Funder’s book is a nuanced, sophisticated literary achievement. . . . A sharp, captivating look at a complicated relationship and a resurrection of a vital figure in Orwell’s life." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A truly wonderful biography. . . Anna Funder has written another brilliant human portrait." —Claire Tomalin
"Wonderful, unexpected and exciting from beginning to end." —Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette: The Journey
"A strikingly original study that casts Orwell in new light. Deeply perceptive, it is a testament to forgotten wives of famous men everywhere." —Julia Boyd, author of A Village in the Third Reich
"Wifedom is both an immovable and an irresistible book, an object and a force . . . another great and important narrative of oppression and covert suppression." —Michael Hofmann, Australian Book Review
"George Orwell’s first wife emerges vividly from Anna Funder’s new book . . . welcome and necessary, returning life to a woman who was gifted, vivid, complex and highly intelligent, who gave up her own ambitions in the furtherance of her husband’s." —Geordie Williamson, Weekend Australian
"Funder is the perfect writer to integrate Orwell’s legacy. She, too, has devoted her writing life to the subject of surviving tyranny." —The Conversation (Australia)
JANUARY 2024 - AudioFile
"It's hard to live in someone's blind spot." This refrain is part of Funder's uniquely crafted audiobook about the life of Eileen O'Shaughnessy, George Orwell's wife. Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood is a capable narrator with a bright tone and considerable skill with voices and accents. The audiobook takes on many roles--O'Shaughnessy biography, author's memoir, and social commentary--all requiring a nimble narrator who can navigate the transitions and excerpted material. Parkes-Lockwood does a fine job, but the text may not be best suited to the audiobook format. Jane Slavin's role offers only a subtle shift when she assumes O'Shaughnessy's voice, and it becomes fatiguing to follow the various genres despite the dual delivery. Immersing oneself in a print version may be preferable for all but the most avid listener. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-05-24
An electrifying biography of George Orwell’s first wife.
In 2017, Funder, author of Stasiland and All That I Am, found herself embarking on a massive Orwell reading project in an effort to excavate herself from the domestic drudgery that seemed to be dominating her life. Coming across a strange passage in Orwell’s private notebook that cites the “incorrigible dirtiness & untidiness” and “terrible, devouring sexuality” of married women, Funder sought more information about Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy (1905-1945), an Oxford graduate and working woman. As the author notes, she is a somewhat inscrutable figure in the major male-authored biographies of Orwell. This book is not a traditional biography but rather a pastiche of Eileen’s letters to her friend Norah Symes, Funder’s invented scenes of the Orwells’ lives, and a first-person account of Funder’s own life as the mother of teenage daughters as the “revelations of #MeToo erupt,” a time of “unspeakable truths.” Eileen is a worthy subject in her own right, but the author ably depicts the balance of power between the Orwells, particularly the way George wrote Eileen out of the narrative. With a combination of excitement and indignation, Funder recounts how, during Orwell’s stint in the Spanish Civil War, Eileen, who had followed her husband to Spain, was doing complicated and dangerous work in the office of the Independent Labour Party, producing its English-language newspaper and radio program. Funder creates a convincing, vivid portrait of Eileen as an irreplaceable font of unpaid labor for George. Not only did she take care of domestic affairs; she also edited and typed for him, prioritized his work above all else, and suffered through his many extramarital affairs (on the latter note, the author rejects the oft-repeated notion that the Orwells had an open marriage). Daring in both form and content, Funder’s book is a nuanced, sophisticated literary achievement.
A sharp, captivating look at a complicated relationship and a resurrection of a vital figure in Orwell’s life.
