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Reading lists

Must-read sci-fi classics

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Recommendations

Books to help ease your social media use

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Features

Text conversations from classic novels

Tiled jackets of fiction books that have changed the world, in Vintage Earth-themed colour scheme

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10 times fiction changed the world

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What book to read, based on your favourite Christmas song

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Animal Farm: How the covers have changed through the decades

Four Orwell books with graphic art covers, next to a mug of tea, a plant and a blanket.

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Where to start reading George Orwell

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Semi-colons; or, learning to love literature’s most misunderstood punctuation

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7 brilliant authors who wrote their best books late in their careers

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A Hebridean island, grow-your-own and boat accidents: Nineteen Eighty-Four’s unlikely genesis

Despite the war, the 1940s was a bumper decade for publishing

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Books that shaped the 1940s

Should you research a book before reading?

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The debate: should you research a book before reading?

The debate: should you keep books in pristine condition?

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The best pubs in literature

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How George Orwell covers have evolved through the decades

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Books they tried to ban

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How Nineteen Eighty-Four warned us about Brexit

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12 essential George Orwell quotes about freedom

11 scarily accurate George Orwell quotes about truth

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Quizzes

Orwellian fiction or real-life?

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Extracts

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

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Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Time Machine, We, The Trial, Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Chrysalids

Classic Dystopias: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

Full-cast dramatisations of six masterpieces from the founding fathers of dystopian fiction 
 
Dark and disturbing, provocative and prescient, dystopian literature has long captured our imagination with its nightmarish visions of forbidding future worlds. Included here are six classic novels of time-travel, totalitarianism and terror, written by some of the masters of speculative fiction and adapted for radio with all-star casts. 
 
The Time Machine by HG Wells - A Victorian inventor takes a fateful journey into the far future, where mankind has diverged into two species - the Eloi and the Morlocks. Robert Glenister and William Gaunt star in this pioneering science fiction adventure. 
 
We by Evgeny Zamyatin - In a post-revolutionary future, OneState is ruled according to the principles of rationality. The penalty for dissent is death. But when engineer D-503 meets the beautiful 1-330, he begins to question everything... Starring Anton Lesser, Don Warrington and Brigit Forsyth. 
 
The Trial by Franz Kafka - Josef K is an ordinary man who lives a quiet life. Then, one morning, he is awoken by two men and arrested - but what is his crime? Mike Gwylim stars in this gripping dramatisation by Hanif Kureishi. 
 
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - It's 2116 and Helmholtz Watson and Bernard Marx are token rebels in a society where eugenics, promiscuity and happiness are gently enforced. Into this world comes an outsider, John, who will show the duo what rebellion really means... Starring Justin Salinger, John Coy and Milton Lopes. 
 
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell - Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history to suit the Party. When he finds love with Julia, he awakens to new possibilities - but free thinking is forbidden, and Big Brother is always watching... Christopher Eccleston and Pippa Nixon star in Orwell's chilling tale. 
 
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by genetic mutation, the God-respecting people of Waknuk regard deviation as the work of the Devil. Young David and his friends can communicate by telepathy: but as Mutants, they must hide their powers or face the consequences of discovery... Starring Matthew Beard, Verity-May Henry and Emma Cunniffe. 
 
First published 1899 (The Time Machine), 1921 (We), 1925 (The Trial), 1932 (Brave New World), 1949 (Nineteen Eighty-Four), 1955 (The Chrysalids) 
 
(P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. © 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Graphic Novel

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker, Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

The first ever graphic novel adaptation of George Orwell's timeless dystopia 
 
Winston Smith, an outwardly obedient citizen of Airstrip One, dreams secretly of truth and freedom - but his rebellion will come at a terrible cost. George Orwell's dark masterpiece has enthralled readers for over seventy years. Now the dystopian world of Big Brother, telescreens, the Thought Police and Room 101 is vividly brought to new life in this first ever graphic novel adaptation, illustrated by acclaimed artist Fido Nesti.

Fido Nesti has done a grand job of depicting Orwell's dystopian nightmare ... The writer himself, you like to think, would have been most proud of this new graphic interpretation

Hand this to readers who are new to 1984 or hesitant to take up a classic

George Orwell (Author) Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen-name, George Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame. His novels and non-fiction include Burmese Days, Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia. Fido Nesti (Illustrator) Fido Nesti was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1971. A self-taught artist, he has worked in illustration and comics for over twenty-five years. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Americas Quarterly, among many other publications.

Shooting an Elephant

Shooting an Elephant is Orwell's searing and painfully honest account of his experience as a police officer in imperial Burma; wearing the mask of Empire, committing an act of cruelty, 'solely to avoid looking a fool'. One of Orwell's greatest essays, the claustrophobic sense rendered between conquered, conqueror, and conscience would later be drawn out in his two great works of literature, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm.

'It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism - the real motives for which despotic governments act' 
 
Shooting an Elephant was the first piece of writing by George Orwell to be published by Penguin, in 1940. It is a searing and honest account of his experience as a police officer in imperial Burma: killing an escaped elephant in front of a crowd, solely to avoid looking like a fool.

Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen-name, George Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame. His novels and non-fiction include Burmese Days, Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia.

1984

THE AUTHORATITIVE TEXT 
 
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." 
 
The year is 1984. War and revolution have left the world unrecognisable. Great Britain, now known as Airstrip One, is ruled by the Party, led by Big Brother. Mass surveillance is everything and The Thought Police ensure no individual thinking is allowed. 
 
Winston Smith works at The Ministry of Truth, carefully rewriting history. But Winston dreams of freedom, and of rebellion. It is here that he falls in love with Julia, and starts a secret, forbidden affair with her - but in this world nothing can be kept secret, and they are forced to face consequences more terrifying than either of them could have ever imagined. 
 
A dystopian masterpiece, this is the powerful and prophetic novel that defined the twentieth century. 
 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ROBERT HARRIS

Four of George Orwell's most essential books, 1984, Animal Farm, Down and Out in Paris and London and Homage to Catalonia available for the first time in Vintage Classics with a stunning and unexpected new cover look

George Orwell (Author) 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. Robert Harris (Introducer) Robert Harris is the author of fifteen bestselling novels: the Cicero Trilogy - Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich, The Second Sleep, V2 and Act of Oblivion. His work has been translated into forty languages and nine of his books have been adapted for cinema and television. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby.

Animal Farm

THE AUTHORATITIVE TEXT 
 
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. " 
 
Mr Jones, the owner of Manor Farm, is a lazy drunk. The animals decide to overthrow him in a revolution that will allow them to run the farm, liberating themselves and creating a new life of equality and freedom. But they have underestimated the pigs. Napoleon and Snowball form an elite and take control for themselves, and the tyranny of the farmer is replaced with another kind of control leaving the animals again subject to a ruthless and cruel authority. 
 
Imagined only as Orwell could, this powerful fable is instilled with humour and an underlying urgency that makes this one of the most prescient warnings ever written. 
 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

Four of George Orwell's most essential books, 1984, Animal Farm, Down and Out in Paris and London and Homage to Catalonia available for the first time in Vintage Classics with a stunning and unexpected new cover look

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.

Penguin Modern Classics

The Annotated Edition

George Orwell's masterwork, now in the Penguin Clothbound Classics series with a cover designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith 
 
One of the BBC's '100 Novels that Shaped the World' 
 
'Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past' 
 
Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal. 
 
George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four is perhaps the most pervasively influential book of the twentieth century.

George Orwell

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith 
 
Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. 
 
Today, George Orwell is perhaps most famous for his iconic novels - Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm - but in his own time it was his remarkable nonfiction writing which drew most attention. Kind-hearted, intelligent, often funny, occasionally indignant, always insightful: his essays are some of the best ever written. Among others, this selection includes 'Shooting an Elephant', 'Such, Such Were the Joys' and 'Some Thoughts on the Common Toad'.

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Grab the Vintage Classics collection of four of George Orwell's most famous works over on the Penguin Shop.

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Photo of the Vintage Classics bundle of George Orwell books, including Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm, Homage to Catalonia and Down and Out in Paris and London

George Orwell

The Night Orwell Died

Vintage Classics Orwell bundle