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Orwell's Roses

By Rebecca Solnit
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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
Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit explores the life of George Orwell through the lens of his love for gardening, especially roses. It offers insight into how his gardening influenced his political and literary work, blending biography, memoir, and cultural history.
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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 might enjoy this book if you are fascinated by the intersections of politics, nature, and literature. It weaves together elements of George Orwell's life with the beauty of roses, offering insightful reflections on both his writing and the natural world.

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Roses, pleasure, and politics: a fresh take on Orwell as an avid gardener, whose political writing was grounded in his passion for the natural world.

Roses, pleasure, and politics: a fresh take on Orwell as an avid gardener, whose political writing was grounded in his passion for the natural world.

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
'I loved this book... An exhilarating romp through Orwell's life and times' - Margaret Atwood

Outside my work the thing I care most about is gardening - George Orwell

Inspired by her encounter with the surviving roses that Orwell is said to have planted in his cottage in Hertfordshire, Rebecca Solnit explores how his involvement with plants, particularly flowers, illuminates his other commitments as a writer and antifascist, and the intertwined politics of nature and power.

Following his journey from the coal mines of England to taking up arms in the Spanish Civil War; from his prescient critique of Stalin to his analysis of the relationship between lies and authoritarianism, Solnit finds a more hopeful Orwell, whose love of nature pulses through his work and actions.

And in her dialogue with the author, she makes fascinating forays into colonial legacies in the flower garden, discovers photographer Tina Modotti's roses, reveals Stalin's obsession with growing lemons in impossibly cold conditions, and exposes the brutal rose industry in Colombia.

A fresh reading of a towering figure of the 20th century which finds solace and solutions for the political and environmental challenges we face today, Orwell's Roses is a remarkable reflection on pleasure, beauty, and joy as acts of resistance.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit has garnered praise for its insightful blend of biography, memoir, and literary criticism, highlighting George Orwell's passion for gardening and his affinity for roses. Reviewers commend Solnit for rescuing Orwell from a perception of sternness, unveiling a more human and English side to his personality. The book is noted for its elegant prose and expansive thought, offering readers a fresh and ingenious take on Orwell's life and values, intertwining aesthetics with ethics.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781783785520

Publisher: Granta Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 07 July 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Granta Books

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 226g

Pages: 320

Collections

Best Sellers at Book Hero Biography & Memoir Education & Reference Gifts $20-$50 In Stock Books Musicians, Movie Stars & Creative Biographies Non-Fiction Political Biographies Politics & Current Affairs Rebecca Solnit Science & Nature

About the Author

REBECCA SOLNIT is the author of more than twenty books, including Recollections of My Non-Existence, which was longlisted for the 2021 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and shortlisted for the 2021 James Tait Black Award, The Faraway Nearby, Wanderlust, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, River of Shadows and A Paradise Built in Hell. She is also the author of Men Explain Things to Me and many essays on feminism, activism, social change, hope, and the climate crisis. A contributing editor to Harper's, she writes regularly for the Guardian, the London Review of Books and the Los Angeles Times. She lives in San Francisco.

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