Instant Digital Gift Cards 💌
Christmas Gift Guide Gift Guide
Christmas Delivery Delivery
Store Hours Store Hours
Gift Cards Gift Cards

Boxing Day Sale is live! Up to 20% off 2000+ Books

Coming Up For Air

By George Orwell
Series: Orwell: The New Editions
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.78 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 20,821 ratings, 1,816 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Coming Up For Air by George Orwell is a portrayal of one man's reflection on his life amidst the backdrop of pre-war England. The protagonist, George Bowling, a middle-aged insurance salesman, feels detached from his mundane existence and embarks on a nostalgic journey to his childhood village. Through his eyes, the novel explores themes of memory, change, and the passage of time, capturing the unease of a rapidly modernising world.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2600
Elsewhere:
$2799
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You may enjoy this book if you appreciate stories that delve into personal introspection and societal critique. George Orwell offers a rich narrative blending satire and nostalgia, exploring themes of escapism and the impact of modern life on personal identity. If you find the tension between past and present intriguing, this novel might captivate you.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Coming Up For Air

A new and definitive edition of Coming up for Air, introduced and annotated by Orwell's prize-winning biographer. With additional content from Orwell himself.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
A new edition of Orwell's elegiac fourth novel, introduced and annotated by his biographer, D.J. Taylor

First published in 1939 and dominated by the shadow of the Second World War, Coming Up For Air finds fat, middle-aged and unhappily-married George Bowling trying to revisit the world of his Edwardian childhood in rural Oxfordshire. He attempts to reconnect with the certainties of his past, only to discover that they are dead, and a very different future is looming up to claim him.

This new edition includes an introduction, extensive end-notes, and an appendix containing original responses to the novel, as well as letters and documents from the period in which it was written.

Series: Orwell: The New Editions

View all

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781472133090

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 09 June 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Constable

Contributors:

  • Edited by D.J. Taylor
  • Edited by D.J. Taylor

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 124.0mm

Height: 220.0mm

Weight: 240g

Pages: 304

Collections

Fiction General Fiction George Orwell Literary Fiction Series: Orwell: The New Editions

About the Author

D. J. Taylor is a writer and critic. His collection of short stories, After Bathing at Baxter's was published in 1997 and he is the author of six novels: Great Eastern Land (1986); Real Life (1992); English Settlement (1996); Trespass (1998), a satire of 1970s England; The Comedy Man (2001), the story of one half of a comedy duo; and Kept: A Victorian Mystery (2006). Several of his books are set in his home city of Norwich.

His books of non-fiction include Afer the War: The Novel and England Since 1945 (1993); A Vain Conceit: British fiction in the 1980s (1989), a critical look at the quality of fiction-writing in Britain; and most recently, Bright Young People: The Rise and Fall of a Generation 1918-1940.

He is also well-known for his biographies: Thackeray (1999); and Orwell: The Life, published in 2003 to coincide with the centenary of Orwell's birth. This book won the 2003 Whitbread Biography Award.

Also by George Orwell

View all

More from General Fiction

View all

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 80,000 books and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.