‘Rivetingly told . . . a terrifically assured hybrid of fiction and life-writing’ — New Statesman
‘Dennis Glover’s pacy novelisation of Orwell’s life takes its title from the one Orwell first had in mind for his totalitarian dystopia … Glover magically wrings high-stakes drama from thefundamentally undramatic scene of the writer at his desk’ — Daily Mail
The Last Man in Europe adopts the sound of Orwell so brilliantly . . . anyone with an interest in Orwell will certainly enjoy it’ — Orwell Society
The Last Man in Europe shows its readers the influences which shaped Orwell’s masterpiece, but transcends even that, giving an affecting portrait of the man himself’ — The Herald
1947. In a damp, run-down farmhouse on the island of Jura, George Orwell is embarking on his greatest work: Nineteen Eighty-Four. Forty-four years old and suffering from the tuberculosis that will eventually take his life, this book is his legacy — the culmination of a career spent fighting to preserve the freedoms which the wars and upheavals of the twentieth century have threatened. Completing the book is an urgent task — a race against death.
Dennis Glover explores the creation of Orwell’s final work, which for millions of readers worldwide defined the twentieth century. Simultaneously a captivating drama, a unique literary excavation and an unflinching portrait of a beloved writer, The Last Man in Europe will change the way you understand Nineteen Eighty-Four and George Orwell himself.