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Orwell's Roses

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(467 reviews)

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Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
Finalist for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography

"An exhilarating romp through Orwell's life and times and also through the life and times of roses." -- Margaret Atwood

"A captivating account of Orwell as gardener, lover, parent, and endlessly curious thinker." -- Claire Messud, Harper's

"Nobody who reads it will ever think of Nineteen Eighty-Four in quite the same way." -- Vogue

A lush exploration of politics, roses, and pleasure, and a fresh take on George Orwell as an avid gardener whose political writing was grounded by his passion for the natural world

"In the spring of 1936, a writer planted roses." So be-gins Rebecca Solnit's new book, a reflection on George Orwell's passionate gardening and the way that his involvement with plants, particularly flowers, illuminates his other commitments as a writer and antifascist, and on the intertwined politics of nature and power.

Sparked by her unexpected encounter with the roses he reportedly planted in 1936, Solnit's account of this overlooked aspect of Orwell's life journeys through his writing and his actions -- from going deep into the coal mines of England, fighting in the Spanish Civil War, critiquing Stalin when much of the international left still supported him (and then critiquing that left) to his analysis of the relationship between lies and authoritarianism.

Through Solnit's celebrated ability to draw unexpected connections, readers are drawn onward from Orwell's own work as a writer and gardener to encounter photographer Tina Modotti's roses and her politics, agriculture and illusion in the USSR of his time with forcing lemons to grow in impossibly cold conditions, Orwell's slave-owning ancestors in Jamaica, Jamaica Kincaid's examination of colonialism and imperialism in the flower garden, and the brutal rose industry in Colombia that supplies the American market. The book draws to a close with a rereading of Nineteen Eighty-Four that completes Solnit's portrait of a more hopeful Orwell, as well as offering a meditation on pleasure, beauty, and joy as acts of resistance.

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  • We started tracking this book on April 5, 2021.
  • This book was $14.99 when we started tracking it.
  • The price of this book has changed 52 times in the past 1,359 days.
  • The current price of this book is $5.99 last checked 8 hours ago.
  • This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $4.99.
  • The lowest price to date was $4.99 last reached on October 12, 2024.
  • This book has been $4.99 9 times since we started tracking it.
  • The highest price to date was $14.99 last reached on November 17, 2024.
  • This book has been $14.99 9 times since we started tracking it.

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  • Text-to-Speech: Disabled
  • Lending: Disabled
  • Print Length: 320 Pages
  • File Size: 12,377 KB

We last verified the price of this book about 8 hours ago. At that time, the price was $5.99. This price is subject to change. The price displayed on the Amazon.com website at the time of purchase is the price you will pay for this book. Please confirm the price before making any purchases.