Wifedom by Anna Funder review – a brilliant reckoning with George Orwell to change the way you read

Blending forensic research, fiction, life writing and criticism, Funder upends the legacy of literary triumph to reveal the woman behind it

• Susan Wyndham
• The Guardian

Wifedom may seem an old-fashioned word these days.

But be assured that Anna Funder – the Australian author of Stasiland, human rights lawyer, decoder of doublethink – gives it a slashing edge.

Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life is a brilliant, creative hybrid of life writing, feminist polemic and literary criticism, which upends the way we read.

In 2017, “at a moment of peak overload” in her family and stalled in her stellar writing career, Funder bought a first edition of George Orwell’s Collected Essays, Journalism and…

• Wifedom by Anna…