A Clergyman’s Daughter – George Orwell

One thing I enjoy about buying more of my books from charity shops is that I don’t always know what I will be reading next and I often end up reading fantastic books that I might not have normally chosen. Frequently I find quite a few classic books in charity shops my latest read certainly fell into that category. Secondary school was where I first came across the works of George Orwell and I read Animal Farm as part of my GCSE English course. I’ve always meant to read more of his works, but had not got round to doing so until I picked up a copy of A Clergyman’s Daughter recently.

Orwell wrote this book back in 1935 and it was his second published novel. It tells the story of Dorothy Hare, the daughter of a local clergyman, who is treated as a personal slave by her father. Following a scandal Dorothy leaves her father’s home and spends time as a hop picker in Kent before becoming homeless in London. Following rescue by her cousin she goes to work as a teacher in a small private school in a London suburb. The book follows Dorothy’s need to earn money and she meets that need by being extremely hard working. In all the places that the reader sees Dorothy working, Orwell draws attention to the hardships placed upon the workers by their employers, and at times he is quite critical about the way things are run and some of the unfairness of the class system.

A Clergyman’s Daughter was dismissed by Orwell himself as being “tripe” and he prevented it from being published again during his lifetime, but did concede that he did not mind if his estate tried to benefit from i after his death. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and easily fell in step with the ups and downs of Dorothy’s life. I found Orwell’s style generally quite easy going with one small exception. There is one section in the middle of the book where Orwell has written the whole chapter as if it was the script for a play, complete with stage instructions. After the easy flowing style of the rest of the book this chapter had quite a staccato effect and I was glad to move on to the next chapter and back into Orwell’s regular style.

I’ve also managed to pick up a copy of Orwell’s first book (Down and Out in Paris and London) and am looking forward to reading it next and being able to compare the two. I’ll also be looking out for copies of his other works (along with other classics) the next time I’m on the look out for books in the charity shop.