Nineteen Eighty-Four is George Orwell’s last novel. It was published in June 1949 – he died in January 1950. Many consider it his masterpiece. Winston Smith lives in 1984 in a London ruled by a fearsome totalitarian regime, headed by the ever-present Big Brother, and watched closely by the hugely feared Thought Police. But, he rebels… Although now over 70 years old, this powerful dystopian spy novel touches on many modern issues – surveillance through technology, “fake news” and other political propaganda, the abuse of power and the wider issue of the individual and the state. Orwell’s theory of power is developed brilliantly, at considerable length. The New Yorker
