less of a biography and more of a contextualisation of orwell - both in terms of who he was and his life in terms of the political events of the time and of his background and the british empire, but also in terms of our 21st century issues some of which are new, like climate change, and some orwell would recognise such as capitalism and exploitation of labour, now particularly in poorer countries, for the pleasures of the wealthier. but also, a story of roses, and of hope, and of a man who lived through a lot and suffered ill health and still took the time to plant a garden.

i would have liked it to go into more of orwell's failings - his homophobia etc, but this was perhaps beyond the scope of the book. i picked this up for two reasons - 1. i have enjoyed solnit's other work and 2. i have been meaning to reread some orwell, and this delivered in both respects.