Burmese Days

"Envy is a horrible thing... It is more than merely painful, it is disgusting." Based on his experiences in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, George Orwell's first novel presents a searing portrait of British colonialism in 1920s Burma, where racism, corruption, and loneliness fester beneath the surface of imperial rule. At the heart of Burmese Days is John Flory, a disillusioned English timber merchant whose love for Burmese culture isolates him from his fellow colonists. The story centres around the intrigue and scandal that grips the European colony and its European Club when new laws require all clubs across the British Empire to elect at least one non-European member. The tensions arising from this coincide with the arrival of the beautiful Elizabeth Lackersteen in whom Flory naïvely comes to see a kind of salvation. Burmese Days is a blistering indictment of the dark side of British colonialism in the 1920s. Born Eric Arthur Blair, George Orwell (1903-1950) was a British novelist, essayist, and critic famous for his insightful social and political commentary. His personal engagement with real world issues imbues his work with a sense of social conscience that continues to resonate with readers, and his two most famous novels, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, continue to captivate audiences worldwide.