The Girl from the Fiction Department. A Portrait of Sonia Orwell.

Hardback. 8vo, xii, 194p., frontis., b/w illus., acks. & sources, credits. Maroon cloth boards, lettered in gilt to spine; grey, stippled endpapers.

Excised title page, untitled d/w with inked over barcode to rear panel, else Fine.

George Orwell's second wife, Sonia – the prototype for the character of Julia in 1984 – has been unjustly blamed for exploiting his name and copyrights, and squandering his fortune. Here, her friend, biographer Hilary Spurling, sets the record straight. "A full and fascinating portrait of a complex, strong, and puzzling personality." –Literary Review