A Clergyman’s Daughter by George Orwell

This is a more obscure Orwell read, one that he himself and critics found lacking, but I really enjoyed this.

Dorothy is daughter of a curmudgeonly Anglican rector, and the book starts with a really compelling exploration of her life in the straitened rectory, dodging the unpaid butcher’s bills, ideating for the church bell fund, and being in the middle of schismatic High/Low Church psychodramas. Some heartfelt descriptions of genteel poverty and petty village and parish life, plus the dynamics of selfish fathers and spinster daughters….

This is all suddenly disrupted by Dorothy’s apparent amnesia: she is now penniless in London and forced to survive on the streets. Cue a long exploration of itinerant living and poverty with a very memorable Cockney hop picking detour. Then, we have the private school era, which is so beautifully written: you can feel Orwell seething in the background, criticising the capitalist cynicism of paid and indifferent education.

Interesting publishing history from the 1930s: there was a lot of censorship of this book by the publishers due to a recent libel case, so it’s hard to get back to the original text, which doesn’t exist. Some things have been reinstated, but some of it is lost for good. Things deemed censorable: mentions of rape, Barclays Bank, Lambeth City Library, overt criticism of private schools… It’s ironic to notice what was seen as censorable in the 1930s.

I think this is a fun read, an episodic book, and I wanted to keep rooting for Dorothy as the twists and turns of her story deepened. Like all of his books, this feels like remarkable social history. Bleak characters and circumstances are paired with beautiful language and a strange, hypnotic resilience.

One word: gritty.