The Last Man in Europe, Dennis Glover
The Last Man in Europe, Dennis Glover
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The Last Man in Europe

Author: Dennis Glover

Narrator: Simon Mattacks

Unabridged: 7 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/23/2019


Synopsis

“There are just a few writers whose work is so distinctive, definitive, and important their very name describes a whole world, like ‘Orwellian.’ Dennis Glover has written a novel that captures George Orwell as he began to write the book he saw as the culmination of all he’d learned in a bloody century about tyranny, fear, valor, and love.” ―Scott Simon, NPR, “Weekend Edition”April, 1947. In a run-down farmhouse on a remote Scottish island, George Orwell begins his last and greatest work: Nineteen Eighty-Four.Forty-three years old and suffering from the tuberculosis that within three winters will take his life, Orwell comes to see the book as 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 challenge, a race against death.In this “highly compelling, deeply researched" (The National Review) novel, shortlisted for the 2018 Indie Book Award for Best Debut Fiction, Dennis Glover explores the creation of Orwell’s classic work, which for millions of readers worldwide defined the twentieth century, and is now again proving its unnerving relevance. Simultaneously a captivating drama, a unique literary excavation, and an unflinching portrait of a writer, The Last Man in Europe will change the way we understand both our enduringly Orwellian times and Nineteen Eighty-Four.

About Dennis Glover

Dennis Glover earned his PhD in history from King’s College, Cambridge. He has worked for two decades as an academic, newspaper columnist, political adviser, and speechwriter. He is the author of The Art of Great Speeches, Orwell’s Australia, and The Economy is Not a Society. The Last Man in Europe is his first novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Roger on February 02, 2018

The Problem with Bio-Fiction Jura, April 1947. It was his third day back on the island but the first he had managed to get out of bed. He knew what he had to do; transfer to paper the ceaseless, grinding monologue that had been working through his mind since… when? His days at the BBC? The betraya......more

Goodreads review by Nigeyb on March 07, 2018

Well researched, however where do factual events end and fictional interpretation begin? Dennis Glover takes a high risk approach to exploring George Orwell's life, rather than adopt the straight biographical approach of, for example, D.J. Taylor's 'Orwell', he chose to write a novel about the key m......more

Goodreads review by Emma on August 10, 2017

I am a huge fan of Orwell, and am a high school English teacher who has studied 1984 with many classes, and so my judgement is harsher than that of others. Above all, I found this novel disappointingly dull. The writing is nice, but not exciting, and the story didn't reveal anything new. Each scatte......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on January 18, 2018

This is more than a fictionalised biographical novel. It delves into the writing process, political history, medical treatment. Of course, it traces parallels between Orwell’s experiences and those of Winston in 1984. I don’t think I am up to re-reading the horror that is 1984; this novel acts enoug......more

Goodreads review by Camus on July 29, 2017

A heavy-handed, novelised, biography of Orwell's writing 1984. At great pains to show how each vignette directly informs a passage either from 1984 or Animal Farm and the poorer for it. Very readable but left me wanting a regular bio.......more