Orwell. A Man Of Our Time (Bradford Richard); Bloomsbury, 2021

One of the most enduringly popular and controversial writers of the twentieth century, George Orwell's work is as relevant today as it was in his own lifetime. Possibly, in the age of Brexit and populism, even more so. He foresaw 'Fake News' in Nineteen Eighty Four's 'Doublethink', the creation of the EU and predicted that post-Imperial xenophobia would cause Britain to leave it.

Separate from his career as a political theorist and novelist, Orwell's life is fascinating in its own right. Disillusioned with his family's upper middle-class complacency, Orwell grew to despise the class system that spawned him, despite being unable to fully detach from it. In truth, he reserved as much suspicion and distaste for the 'proles' as he did pity.

Orwell: A Man of Our Time offers a vivid portrait of the man behind the writings, placing both him and his work at the centre of the current political landscape.