Language: Dutch.

All animals are equal, but George Orwell was born more equal than others. His family belonged to the English bourgeoisie and Orwell (Eric Blair, 1903-1950) had his education at expensive high-class schools like Eton.

This heritage didn’t give Orwell any satisfaction at all. The more differences he saw with the working class, the more he took distance from his posh, protective little world. He did this in the most radical ways: he turned into a vagabond, exploring the slime of the London and Parisian gutters, he fought (or more or less spent his days) in the trenches of the Spanish civil war, worked as a police officer in Burma and tried to experience the life in the pitch-black mining industry.

Marco Daane created a well-researched portrait of the famous writer, whose words still carry lots of importance and influence (Big Brother!). Daane portraits him by following his footsteps, which makes this book a travelogue too. Very nice read, not only for those who enjoyed Animal Farm, The Road to Wigan Pier, Down and Out in Paris and London, Nineteen Eighty-Four and all those other Orwellian greats.