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Barnhill
George Orwell left post-war London for Barnhill, a remote farmhouse on the Isle of Jura, to write what became Nineteen Eighty-Four. He was driven by a passionate desire to undermine the enemies of democracy and make plain the dangers of dictatorship, surveillance, doublethink and censorship.
Typing away in his damp bedroom overlooking the garden he curated and the sea beyond, he invented Big Brother, Thought Police, Newspeak and Room 101 – and created a masterpiece.
Barnhill tells the dramatic story of this crucial period of Orwell’s life. Deeply researched, it reveals the private man behind the celebrated public figure – his turbulent love life, his devotion to his baby son and his declining health as he struggled to deliver his dystopian warning to the world.
198 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 6, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 17, 2019
Barnhill is a farmhouse on the Scottish Hebridean island of Jura – a mountainous, sparsely populated piece of land, bare except for vast areas of blanket bog. The main settlement there is the village of Craighouse where the famous Isle of Jura Single Malt Whisky is produced, but the property itself stands alone to the north of the island and is notable mainly because it was the home of author George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair) during the late 1940s. Here he grew vegetables, raised his son and completed his celebrated dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Being familiar with Orwell’s time in Scotland from his Diaries, Life in Letters and biography, Wintry Conscience of a Generation by Jeffrey Meyers, I was fascinated to learn of Norman Bissell’s fictional retelling of this significant period in the writer’s life. Described in an early review by Leela Soma as a “rich, absorbing narrative that draws a convincing picture of the life of a great writer”, I was intrigued to discover how Bissell had interpreted the inner-life of such an intensely private and emotionally impenetrable figure.
The narrative begins in 1944, when he and his stoical wife Eileen are still living in London and covers the period when he ends an extramarital affair with his secretary, adopts a three-week old child, publishes Animal Farm, becomes a war correspondent in Paris and experiences the death of his wife in shocking circumstances. He arrives in Barnhill (a place once described by his friend Richard Rees as “the most uninhabitable house in the British Isles”) in 1946, later to be joined by his sister, housekeeper and son. Here he spends about six months of the year from 1946 to 1948.
Orwell had tuberculosis, which was undoubtedly aggravated by living in damp conditions. Between bouts of ill health and undergoing agonizing treatment in hospital, he wrote and redrafted his final novel in a dingy bedroom overlooking the sea. He was in a sanitorium in Gloucestershire by the time he corrected the proofs, and married his second wife, Sonia Brownell, the inspiration for the book’s fearless Julia, at University College Hospital in London only three months before his death on 21st January 1950.
Bissell’s endeavours to recreate events in the last six years of Orwell’s life have obviously required a degree of dramatic licence (he happily admits as much in his Afterword) – for instance, certain dialogues have been imagined and the parts of his book written by Sonia about her life with Orwell are fictitious. However, as Bissell rightly points out, her voice is “essential to the story” and he has “tried to convey it as accurately as possible.”
Barnhill remains faithful to the most important aspects of Orwell’s life and will likely appeal to those who know little of the man behind the disconcertingly prescient novels, while also offering a slant on his final years that readers more familiar with his history will hopefully accept and applaud. Bissell has movingly and vibrantly reanimated Orwell in all his gloomy, troubled, visionary sagacity.
Many thanks to Luath Press for providing an advance review copy of this title.
Being familiar with Orwell’s time in Scotland from his Diaries, Life in Letters and biography, Wintry Conscience of a Generation by Jeffrey Meyers, I was fascinated to learn of Norman Bissell’s fictional retelling of this significant period in the writer’s life. Described in an early review by Leela Soma as a “rich, absorbing narrative that draws a convincing picture of the life of a great writer”, I was intrigued to discover how Bissell had interpreted the inner-life of such an intensely private and emotionally impenetrable figure.
The narrative begins in 1944, when he and his stoical wife Eileen are still living in London and covers the period when he ends an extramarital affair with his secretary, adopts a three-week old child, publishes Animal Farm, becomes a war correspondent in Paris and experiences the death of his wife in shocking circumstances. He arrives in Barnhill (a place once described by his friend Richard Rees as “the most uninhabitable house in the British Isles”) in 1946, later to be joined by his sister, housekeeper and son. Here he spends about six months of the year from 1946 to 1948.
Orwell had tuberculosis, which was undoubtedly aggravated by living in damp conditions. Between bouts of ill health and undergoing agonizing treatment in hospital, he wrote and redrafted his final novel in a dingy bedroom overlooking the sea. He was in a sanitorium in Gloucestershire by the time he corrected the proofs, and married his second wife, Sonia Brownell, the inspiration for the book’s fearless Julia, at University College Hospital in London only three months before his death on 21st January 1950.
Bissell’s endeavours to recreate events in the last six years of Orwell’s life have obviously required a degree of dramatic licence (he happily admits as much in his Afterword) – for instance, certain dialogues have been imagined and the parts of his book written by Sonia about her life with Orwell are fictitious. However, as Bissell rightly points out, her voice is “essential to the story” and he has “tried to convey it as accurately as possible.”
Barnhill remains faithful to the most important aspects of Orwell’s life and will likely appeal to those who know little of the man behind the disconcertingly prescient novels, while also offering a slant on his final years that readers more familiar with his history will hopefully accept and applaud. Bissell has movingly and vibrantly reanimated Orwell in all his gloomy, troubled, visionary sagacity.
Many thanks to Luath Press for providing an advance review copy of this title.
July 9, 2019
Animal Farm, published 1944, and '1984' published in 1949 are an important part of our history - novels that for most woke us to the possibilities of danger from Big Brother, ponderous government, doublespeak, and censorship - the governmental enemies of independent thought and freedoms. '1984' has been carrying this important message to readers since its first publication in 1949. Seventy years. Animal Farm has been a recurring theme for even longer.
Orwell - Eric Arthur Blair - wrote a number of other outstanding novels, his articles and essays are still relevant and his works have been published around the world, crossing language, political and religious barriers. He died before his 47th birthday of TB. Imagine his influence on the world had he not died so young.
That said, I had a difficult time getting into this novelization, partly because for several years I have avoided dystopian tales like the plague, and also, the reader has to be of the right mindset to tackle George Orwell. Optimization is not a fault he shared with the world. Unless you are brimming with goodwill and optimism he can bring you down into the dumps in a New York minute. Once sucked in, however, there was a lot to learn about his life, his loves, and the Scottish isles in this novel. And once in that world, you cannot put the book down. It is one I am pleased to recommend to friends and family. Norman Bissell takes you there.
I received a free electronic copy of this novelization of the final years of George Orwell - and the writing of his crucial novel, '1984' - from Netgalley, Norman Bissell, and Luath publishers. Thank you for sharing your hard work with me. I read this historical novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
pub date May 22, 2019
Luath publisher
Reviewed on May 21, 2019, on Goodreads, Netgalley, Amazon, B&N
Orwell - Eric Arthur Blair - wrote a number of other outstanding novels, his articles and essays are still relevant and his works have been published around the world, crossing language, political and religious barriers. He died before his 47th birthday of TB. Imagine his influence on the world had he not died so young.
That said, I had a difficult time getting into this novelization, partly because for several years I have avoided dystopian tales like the plague, and also, the reader has to be of the right mindset to tackle George Orwell. Optimization is not a fault he shared with the world. Unless you are brimming with goodwill and optimism he can bring you down into the dumps in a New York minute. Once sucked in, however, there was a lot to learn about his life, his loves, and the Scottish isles in this novel. And once in that world, you cannot put the book down. It is one I am pleased to recommend to friends and family. Norman Bissell takes you there.
I received a free electronic copy of this novelization of the final years of George Orwell - and the writing of his crucial novel, '1984' - from Netgalley, Norman Bissell, and Luath publishers. Thank you for sharing your hard work with me. I read this historical novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
pub date May 22, 2019
Luath publisher
Reviewed on May 21, 2019, on Goodreads, Netgalley, Amazon, B&N
August 15, 2021
A magnificent semi-fictional insight into the life of George Orwell (a.k.a Eric Arthur Blair) and his closest friends and family during the time he wrote 1984. Finally achieving his dream of living on the remote island Jura in the Southern Hebrides - next door to the lovely Islay where my mum lives and from whence we all enjoy whiskies such as Lagavulin and Bruichladdich - his health and his life are all compromised, and his mind is forever stuck in the dystopian future of Big Brother, NewSpeak and undrinkable state-distributed "coffee". He was never just paranoid that the Soviets had him down in their books as an enemy - he was right. What people often overlook was that the world of capitalism and fascism had him as an enemy. He was dedicated to exposing the potential of the British state to take over every piece of our lives. He was correct about CCTV, he was correct about the dumping down of language... what else was he correct about in his TB fever dreams?
August 9, 2019
I have just finished reading this book. Moving to an island close to Jura, I was fascinated to learn of the Orwell connection, so once I learnt of the forthcoming novel I awaited the publication with great anticipation.
I was not disappointed, the book captures the story so well. The authors style of writing allows you to fully immerse yourself in the story, I could picture myself in each setting that much that I could have been there in the cottage on Jura.
It was fascinating to learn about the man behind so many great novels that I read during my school years and the influences that in part mush have shaped those stories. I am now inspired to re-read the Orwell classics that I read in the past. From some aspects it is hard to belive that a novel as dark as nineteen eighty four could have been penned in such beuatifual surroundings, but once you understand the life of Orwell before his days on Jura you get a greater insight into how such views could have been formed. This book leaves me wondering what other novels Orwell could have written if his health had not failed him when it did?
This is one of the best novels I have read for sometime and it is one of those books that it is sad when you turn the final page.
I was not disappointed, the book captures the story so well. The authors style of writing allows you to fully immerse yourself in the story, I could picture myself in each setting that much that I could have been there in the cottage on Jura.
It was fascinating to learn about the man behind so many great novels that I read during my school years and the influences that in part mush have shaped those stories. I am now inspired to re-read the Orwell classics that I read in the past. From some aspects it is hard to belive that a novel as dark as nineteen eighty four could have been penned in such beuatifual surroundings, but once you understand the life of Orwell before his days on Jura you get a greater insight into how such views could have been formed. This book leaves me wondering what other novels Orwell could have written if his health had not failed him when it did?
This is one of the best novels I have read for sometime and it is one of those books that it is sad when you turn the final page.
December 31, 2019
Just finished reading Barnhill : a very enjoyable and delighful novel, hard to put down before the end : not only does the reader get to imagine George Orwell "from the inside", but it's also a very well documented vision of the life, social and intellectual, just after WWII. Made me want to re-read 1984 (and other Orwell books), with a new view of the context it was written in...
August 19, 2019
An excellent insight into the latter days of Orwell's life. The book captures Orwell's determination to finish his work despite ill health. I couldn't put it down.
January 8, 2020
Really interesting book and you can imagine the people and the places vividly. Highly recommended it.
July 19, 2021
Are you more than a little bit obsessed with George Orwell's 1984? Well then, you're going to enjoy reading Barnhill: A Novel.
Norman Bissell's novel takes place at Barnhill – the location that George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) famously tucked himself away in – and the birthplace of 1984. Essentially, Barnhill is a dramatization of George Orwell's time there and the creation of a novel that will always resonate with its readers.
Like me, you might be wondering where Barnhill is actually located. Barnhill is on the Isle of Jura, Scotland. If you look up the photos, it looks appropriately isolated but also oddly striking and comforting. I can see why an author would seek peace and solitude here.
Maybe it's because I don't read too many historical fiction novels (at least not without a fantasy twist – what can I say, I have a preference), but I'm struggling to find words to describe this novel.
It's informative and interesting, much like a biography or autobiography. I'd recommend it for fans of the author, though perhaps those that already know every detail of his life would be annoyed by this portrayal. I'm not sure.
Overall, I enjoyed Barnhill and what I was able to glean from its telling. Though it does make me want to reread 1984, something I've been craving anyway.
Thanks to Luath Press and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Read more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Norman Bissell's novel takes place at Barnhill – the location that George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) famously tucked himself away in – and the birthplace of 1984. Essentially, Barnhill is a dramatization of George Orwell's time there and the creation of a novel that will always resonate with its readers.
Like me, you might be wondering where Barnhill is actually located. Barnhill is on the Isle of Jura, Scotland. If you look up the photos, it looks appropriately isolated but also oddly striking and comforting. I can see why an author would seek peace and solitude here.
Maybe it's because I don't read too many historical fiction novels (at least not without a fantasy twist – what can I say, I have a preference), but I'm struggling to find words to describe this novel.
It's informative and interesting, much like a biography or autobiography. I'd recommend it for fans of the author, though perhaps those that already know every detail of his life would be annoyed by this portrayal. I'm not sure.
Overall, I enjoyed Barnhill and what I was able to glean from its telling. Though it does make me want to reread 1984, something I've been craving anyway.
Thanks to Luath Press and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Read more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
September 2, 2024
This book is described as a novel but it is a semi-fictional insight about George Orwell’s life. In it he is referred to often as George but just as often by his real name, Eric Arthur Blair. Barnhill is where Orwell lived while he attempted to write ‘Nineteen eighty-four,’ his dystopian masterpiece. It is a farmhouse on the Scottish island of Jura, a mountainous bare land covered with large areas of blanket bog. Orwell’s book was mostly written in a dank bedroom on his old typewriter during a very difficult period when he was suffering from TB.
At the same time Orwell was convinced that the British government would eventually be taken over by a ruling autocracy that would be controlling every aspect of the peoples’ lives. His new book would be a warning of this. Norman Bissel’s writing includes this fear of Orwell’s and the fictional conversations with his close friends and colleagues allow you a certain amount of intrigue and suspicion of their authenticity. A long while ago I read the biography of Orwell by Bernard Crick and Bissel’s novel encouraged me to read it again. Having read Crick’s book I can recall being left then with feelings of similar curiosity and intrigue, allowing for the general situation of world politics immediately following World War 2.
I have read and enjoyed all of Orwell’s novels and his polemical works such as The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia. Encouraged by reading Barnhill maybe I will also take yet another look at the works of the great man.
At the same time Orwell was convinced that the British government would eventually be taken over by a ruling autocracy that would be controlling every aspect of the peoples’ lives. His new book would be a warning of this. Norman Bissel’s writing includes this fear of Orwell’s and the fictional conversations with his close friends and colleagues allow you a certain amount of intrigue and suspicion of their authenticity. A long while ago I read the biography of Orwell by Bernard Crick and Bissel’s novel encouraged me to read it again. Having read Crick’s book I can recall being left then with feelings of similar curiosity and intrigue, allowing for the general situation of world politics immediately following World War 2.
I have read and enjoyed all of Orwell’s novels and his polemical works such as The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia. Encouraged by reading Barnhill maybe I will also take yet another look at the works of the great man.
September 6, 2022
3.5 stars. An enjoyable read overall. For me it succeeded in capturing the feel of Orwell's life on Jura as he struggled to finish 1984, and as a juxtaposition of his life in London. Strangely perhaps I found the part where he wandered around Glasgow over Hogmanay to be some of the most vivid writing in the book. I did however find the way the story was stitched together a bit unsatisfying at times.
August 19, 2019
Barnhill was a grim and intriguing novelization of the later years of George Orwell. As a lot of people, I've heard a lot about his books (and read them of course), but I knew very little about his life. Even though this book is fiction, I would assume that the bottom-line holds some truth to it. Nevertheless, it's an interesting, though a bit grim, novel.
August 22, 2019
Barnhill offers a glimpse into George Orwell's life after the publication of Animal Farm and the passing of his wife. Many people study Orwell's books in school or read them for pleasure, but most don't know much about the man himself. This would be a great book for Orwell fans who are interested in learning more about his personal life.
August 30, 2025
Really insightful and interesting, and more than anything else it feels very true. Obviously I wasn't around for the events of it, I don't know if it's accurate to Orwell's character or to anyone else's, but I think it's very impressive that Bissell captures a real sense of Orwell in this story. It feels absolutely like it belongs alongside Orwell's own books.
December 23, 2023
It's a shame really giving this book one star. I'm sure a lot of research into the actual background went into it, but the fictionalisation really didn't work for me. The dialogues were flat, making GO and everybody around him appear like the characters of a cheap chicklit. Sorry.
September 14, 2020
Great book about George orwell last year. From his perspective and Sonia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 17, 2019I learned of this book via this review: https://bookjotter.com/2019/04/17/boo...
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