Eileen O’Shaughnessy, in Her Own Words

“This engrossing book - with Eileen's voice clear as a genuinely unique bell - is so important. Eileen it turns out is as staggeringly honest as Orwell - sometimes hilariously, sometimes painfully. Her wit and bravery, her warmth and mischievousness are all her own. But they helped make Orwell's voice and perhaps he helped make her caustic and loving voice too. A work of scholarly precision and wise judgment. And a very good read.”

--Professor Jean Seaton, University of Westminster; Director of the Orwell Foundation.

“Angela Smith and Sylvia Topp have done a terrific job in assembling these letters, which offer conclusive proof of what an extraordinary woman Eileen O'Shaughnessy was and how much she contributed to Orwell's life and work. Orwell Studies is forever in their debt.”

--David Taylor, author of George Orwell: The New Life (2023).

This book brings together the complete letters of Eileen O'Shaughnessy, the first wife of Eric Blair, the man we know as George Orwell. Although they married in 1936 and spent the next nine years together, Eileen’s extensive influence on Orwell’s work is only now being understood and analysed. This collection of letters is enhanced by interviews with some of those who remember being told as children that Eileen had an extremely important role in the final style and writing of Animal Farm. The couple were prolific letter-writers, and about 65 of Eileen’s letters have survived. These letters offer us a glimpse into their lives and marriage in Eileen’s own words. An accomplished writer in her lifetime, and the letters are erudite and entertaining, whilst offering tantalizing glimpses of what it was like to share a life with the creative genius that is George Orwell.

Angela Smith is Emeritus Professor of Language and Culture at the University of Sunderland, UK. She has published extensively in gender studies and media discourse.

Sylvia Topp is the author of Eileen: The Making of George Orwell (2020).