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The Tragedy of Orwell’s Short Life & His Escape To Jura

4 min readApr 28, 2025

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Photo of George Orwell
George Orwell — image Public Domain

George Orwell’s famous book 1984 was published on 8th June 1949 and became a classic, inspiring many other works of fiction and movies. He passed away in January 1950, age 46, from complications relating to tuberculosis. This year marks 75 years since his death.

Orwell was a well-known writer, penning book reviews for the Sunday Observer newspaper in London, and becoming world famous for his children’s novel Animal Farm.

He experienced considerable hardship in his short life, as well as celebrity status, and all that goes with it, and that’s one of the reasons in the late 1940s, he escaped to the Scottish island of Jura to live a quiet life of reflection, and to work on his book, 1984.

He had previously lived the highlife in London with his wife. But during the Second World War, his London flat was destroyed by a doodlebug, and the terror of wartime London ground him down.

His wife died under anaesthesia during a routine operation. They had an adopted son, Richard and Orwell suddenly found himself a single parent, trying to recover from the loss of his home, his wife, and the life he once knew.

Orwell not only struggled with loss, but he wanted to escape from his celebrity status in…

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Counter Arts
Counter Arts

Published in Counter Arts

The (Counter)Cultural One-Stop for Nonfiction on Medium… incorporating categories for: ‘Art’, ‘Culture’, ‘Equality’, ‘Photography’, ‘Film’, ‘Mental Health’, ‘Music’ and ‘Literature’.

Susie K 🐹 Guinea pig slave
Susie K 🐹 Guinea pig slave

Written by Susie K 🐹 Guinea pig slave

Freelance journalist UK. Published in BBC Countryfile, The Mirror, Britain mag etc. Covers writing, health, psychology, memoir, current affairs, & environment.