An attempted biography of Eileen Orwell and her significant contributions to George Orwell’s work and life, exploring the question of what it is to be a wife…

Going into this, I knew nothing about Eileen Orwell - honestly, I’m not sure I even knew Orwell was married. So in that respect, it was great to learn about a woman effectively erased from history by Orwell’s biographers (apparently on purpose). Her work in the Spanish Civil War was especially interesting, as were her likely contributions to Orwell’s work. It does present an unflattering portrait of Orwell, and Funder grapples a bit with how to approach a favourite author who, it turns out, was rather a dick.

But…

There are fictional inserts where Funder imagines events, and whilst the formatting clearly delineates the fictional parts, that clarity between fact and fiction evaporates when I think back on what I read. There’s also a lot of conjecture about how Eileen would have felt, mostly based on how Funder her spec would have felt, rather than any indication on Eileen’s part. Both of these are quite an issue and weaken the book overall.

Fundamentally, the problem is the minimal source material - it felt like Funder was trying to make a lot out of not very much.. Yes, the book is based on six recently-discovered letters from Eileen to a friend, but she didn’t leave behind any diaries or anything else that truly reveals her thoughts and opinions. It’s irritating to repeatedly read that Eileen “must have” felt/wanted/been… - must she? Based on what exactly?

The “wifedom” theme and attempt to equate the expectations that Eileen faced as a wife to those faced by contemporary women had potential. Contemporary women means Funder herself - it involved a lot of self-inserts by the author, which I lost patience with. I don’t think Eileen was the best choice of subject - again, it comes down to the minimal source material.

An interesting enough undertaking, but as a biography of Eileen Orwell, it is seriously weakened by all the conjecture and fictional interludes.