Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life

Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life
First edition cover
AuthorAnna Funder
PublisherPenguin
Publication date4 July 2023
ISBN9780143787112

Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life is a book written by Australian author Anna Funder. It is a fictionalised biography of English author George Orwell's first wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, which shows her contribution to his work and casts Orwell in a bad light. The book was first published as a paperback and an eBook by Penguin Books on 4 July 2023.

Background

In Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life, Funder uses letters discovered in 2005 from Orwell's first wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, to her best friend from college to recreate the Orwells' marriage. O'Shaughnessy was an Oxford-educated English graduate and writer who studied under Tolkien. She was also active in Spain during the Spanish Civil War,[1] working in propaganda at the head office of the International Labour Party while Orwell was in the trenches. Eileen also worked to support the couple financially during their marriage,[2] including during the war in London at the Department of Censorship, and she collaborated closely with Orwell on the writing of Animal Farm.[1]

Wifedom is a hybrid work that blends memoir, biography, fiction, and interrogates the gender dynamics of Orwell's first marriage.[2]

Publication

Wifedom was published by Penguin Books on 4 July 2023 as a paperback and an eBook[3] in the UK, the US, and Australia. It was subsequently released in other countries, including France, Italy, Denmark, and Korea.

Reception

Wifedom was an instant Sunday Times Bestseller on release in August 2023. Hailed as "electrifying" by Kirkus Reviews (starred review)[4] and "a spellbinding achievement" by The Financial Times,[5] Wifedom was a New York Times Notable Book of 2023[6] and named a Book of the Year by The Guardian,[7] The Independent,[8] The Economist,[9] LitHub,[10] the The Daily Telegraph,[11] The Financial Times,[12] and The Times.[13] It was BBC 4 Book of the Week.[14]

Robert McCrum, in The Independent called it "One of the most startling explorations of life-writing (Eileen’s, Orwell's, and Funder's) in recent times . . . Wifedom is a genre-bending tour-de-force that resurrects an invisible woman, and relitigates the saintly image of the man she called 'Eric' . . . a moving, forensic act of biographical reconstruction."[15]

Sarah Bakewell in ''The New York Times described it as "A virtuoso performance on the theme, adding personal memoir, some fictional reconstructions and a glittering sense of purpose."[16]  

Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks called it "Simply a masterpiece. Here, Anna Funder not only remakes 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."[17]

However, there were some objections to Funder's depiction of Orwell and his relationships with women. In her book Funder portrays Orwell as misogynistic and sadistic. This sparked a strong controversy among Orwell's biographers, particularly with Sylvia Topp[18] who wrote Eileen: The Making of George Orwell (2020).[19] Celia Kirwan's family also intervened in the discussion, believing that the attribution to Celia of a relationship with Orwell, was false. Funder agreed to remove references to Celia being a lover of Orwell and visiting him on Jura, but maintains that were accounts of "almost innumerable infidelities" during their marriage.[18] Funder later said that she had published facts that had been deliberately hidden, including "his repressed homosexuality, his sadism, his paranoia, his infidelities, his complexity out of which the work comes", and The Orwell Society, which including the couple's adopted son Richard Blair and his friend Quentin Kopp, had objected to this.[20]

Awards

Wins

Nominations

References

  1. 1 2 Chappell, Elizabeth (4 May 2025). "Where Biography Meets Fictionality: Imaginative Incursions in Anna Funder's Wifedom and Kiera Lindsey's Wild Love". Journal of Language, Literature and Culture. 72 (2): 97–114. doi:10.1080/20512856.2025.2548872. ISSN 2051-2856.
  2. 1 2 Padmore, Catherine (2 January 2025). ""Who Controls the Past Controls the Future": Biofictions of Orwell and Their Contemporary Political Engagements". a/b: Auto/Biography Studies. 40 (1): 27–47. doi:10.1080/08989575.2025.2453299. ISSN 0898-9575.
  3. ↑ "Wifedom by Anna Funder (Trade Paperback)". penguin.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  4. ↑ WIFEDOM | Kirkus Reviews.
  5. ↑ Harding, Jason (2 August 2023). "Two sides of George Orwell". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "Wifedom by Anna Funder - 9780143778080 - QBD Books". qbd.com.au. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  7. ↑ Merritt, Stephanie (13 August 2023). "Wifedom by Anna Funder review – Mrs Orwell comes up for air". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Server Busy". www.amazon.com.au. Archived from the original on 6 November 2025. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "The best books of 2023, as chosen by The Economist". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  10. ↑ Marks, Book (25 August 2023). "What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week". Literary Hub. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  11. ↑ "The 50 best books of 2023 – ranked". Telegraph Culture Desk. 24 November 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "Best books of 2023 — Literary non-fiction". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  13. ↑ Hughes. "Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder review - the woman behind 1984". The Times. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Wifedom - Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder". BBC. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "Genius writer, cruel husband: we can never look at George Orwell the same way again". The Independent. 13 August 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  16. ↑ Bakewell, Sarah (26 August 2023). "One Biography Questions Orwell's Image, and Another Brings His First Wife Into Focus". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  17. ↑ Funder, Anna. "Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life". Paperback Bookshop. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  18. 1 2 Brooks, Richard (11 November 2023). "Sadistic and misogynistic? Row erupts over sex claims in book about George Orwell's marriage". The Observer. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  19. ↑ Cooke, Rachel (10 March 2020). "Eileen: The Making of George Orwell by Sylvia Topp – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  20. ↑ Funder, Anna (24 July 2026). "Author Anna Funder talks about writing, AI and the rise of fascism". ABC News. Interviewed by Heath, Nicola. Archived from the original on 26 July 2026. Retrieved 28 July 2026.
  21. ↑ Funder, Anna. "Anna Funder Wins the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger – Essai for The Invisible Madame Orwell". www.penguin.com.au. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  22. ↑ "2024 Archives". ABIA. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  23. ↑ "The 2024 BookPeople Book of the Year Awards". Readings Books. Archived from the original on 6 March 2026. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  24. 1 2 3 4 "Funder wins Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger | Books+Publishing". www.booksandpublishing.com.au. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  25. ↑ FCINQ, Sophiane (18 July 2024). "30 books shortlisted for the Prix du Roman Fnac 2024". Fnac Darty. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  26. ↑ "Nib Literary Award 2024 finalists announced". Books+Publishing.
  27. ↑ "Longlist Announced for the 2024 Indie Book Awards". Indie Book Awards. 6 December 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.