Down and Out in Paris and London

Published in 1933, and still relevant today, Orwell's first full-length work is a compassionate and insightful description of the life of the working poor in Paris and the homeless in London. Written when Orwell was a struggling writer in his twenties, he vividly documents a world of unrelenting squalor - sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses, working as a plongeur in a Paris hotel, surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a pavement artist and a starving Russian ex-army captain. Exposing a shocking, previously-hidden world to his readers, Orwell gave a human face to the statistics of poverty for the first time - and in doing so, found his voice as a writer. 'Orwell was the great moral force of his age' - Spectator

George Orwell (1903-1950) is one of England's most famous writers and social commentators. He is the author of the classic political satire Animal Farm and the dystopian masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is also well known for his essays and journalism, particularly his works covering his travels and his time fighting in the Spanish Civil War. His writing is celebrated for its piercing clarity, purpose and wit and his books continue to be bestsellers all over the world.