'Orwell was the great moral force of his age' Spectator You can live on a shilling a day in
Paris if you know how. But it is a complicated business. When he was a struggling writer in his
twenties George Orwell lived as a down-and-out among the poorest members of society. In this
early memoir he recounts shocking experiences working as a penniless dishwasher in Paris
pawning clothes to buy a day's worth of bread and wine sleeping in bug-infested bunks trading
survival skills and cigarette butts with fellow tramps and trudging between London's workhouse
spikes for a few hours' sleep and tea-and-two-slices. With sensitivity and compassion Orwell
exposed the hardships of poverty and gave readers an unprecedented look at life lived on the
fringes of society. His vivid account is an enduring call to support the world's most
vulnerable people and exemplifies his belief that 'The greatest of evils and the worst of
crimes is poverty.' The Authoritative Text. With a new introduction by Kerry Hudson. *The
jacket of this stunning hardback edition features period artwork by Elizabeth Friedlander one
of Europe's pre-eminent 20th-century graphic designers. Look out for complementjary editions of
Orwell's essential works Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.*
