Wifedom

Anna Funder is angry: rightly and justifiably so. In this searing biography of George Orwell's first wife Eileen, Funder shows how successive (male) biographers have through laziness or sexism or as products of the patriarchy written Eileen out of the narrative of Orwell's life when she deserved huge credit for keeping his show on the road, for bolstering his ego, for correcting and enhancing his manuscripts and so much more.
Funder uses her own life and marital example to show how little things have changed. She and many of her friends carry the majority of domestic chores and responsibilities even though they work and achieve in their own right.
This is a sad and all too familiar story brilliantly told. Funder admires Orwell as a writer but decimates him as a man whilst acknowledging that the author is a product of a system.
Thank you net galley for an advance copy.

Wifedom is the history of an invisible woman, and the counter-fiction that seeks to give her back her voice.

Eileen Blair was clearly a courageous, intelligent woman, who had a tangible impact on Orwell's creative output. So why does she barely get a mention by Orwell or his biographers? Funder explores the 'doublethink' at the heart of gender politics, the world of unpaid 'women's work' and the male creative ego. Eileen may have been all but erased from the history books, but through a series of newly discovered letters, Funder uncovers the real life hiding between the lines.

While this biography is steeped in historical context, Eileen's story is still painfully relatable in many ways, and Funder isn't afraid to make those connections to her own life. Her insights are thoughtful and often gut-wrenching in their brutal honesty.

Wifedom is a book I feel I'm going to return to time and time again: a real must-read.

Powerful and necessary biography of a woman whose story has long been overlooked. So grateful for the chance to read this book!

'Finding her held the possibility of revealing how it [power] works on women: how a woman can be buried first by domesticity and then by history'.

Eileen O'Shaughnessy may have been George Orwell's first and most influential wife but her-story was never a real part of his-story. Upon discovering some of Eileen's personal letters to friends, Anna Funder uncovers the true impact Eileen had on George's writing, including the infamous 'Animal Farm'. In trying to comprehend why so little of Eileen exists within Orwell's biographies or, indeed, his own writing, Funder discovers a pathological 'erasing' and 'minimising' of Eileen's life with George, 'Her work is barely acknowledged by the man it benefits, and she is later erased by his biographers from his achievement'. From this viewpoint, using letters and biographies, Funder attempts to recreate how Eileen went from being an intelligent, lively, and literary master in her own right, to being married to a philanderer who seemed to have little time and regard for her. In doing so, we also learn that despite the decades that have passed some things haven't really moved on, and women continue to lose themselves to the burden of shouldering much of the household responsibilities, 'One person's time to work is created by another person's work in time: the more time he has to work, the more she is working to make it for him'.

'Wifedom' is an exploration of Orwell, Eileen, and their marriage. But it is also a social commentary on the continued power men hold within our society, 'The individual man can be the loveliest; the system will still benefit him without his having to lift a finger or whip, or change the sheets...'. Funder spends time philosophising how patriarchy within our society was built and how we are all complicit in maintaining it; like some unspoken secret. Within this book you'll find plenty of points to ponder and how it relates to your own life, family and sense of self.