A Clergyman's Daughter

Nov 24, 2025 1:09 PM

Author:George Orwell

Intimidated by her father, the rector of Knype Hill, Dorothy performs her submissive roles of dutiful daughter and bullied housekeeper. Her thoughts are taken up with the costumes she is making for the church school play, by the hopelessness of preaching to the poor and by debts she cannot pay in 1930s Depression England. Suddenly her routine shatters and Dorothy finds herself down and out in London. She is wearing silk stockings, has money in her pocket and cannot remember her name. Orwell leads us through a landscape of unemployment, poverty and hunger, where Dorothy's faith is challenged by a social reality that changes her life.

Reviews

Its beauty and power and the sheer pleasure that it gives are indestructible

—— Sunday Times

Poignant and beautiful...alive with a vividly unique vision of colliding cultures and enduring love

—— The Times

A blazing masterpiece... I cannot think of so moving a love story in modern fiction

—— Washington Star

One feels as if one had dug up buried treasure...an epic cultural change that seems more immediate than this morning's headlines... An extraordinary novel

—— New York Times

A beautiful novel

—— Paul Theroux

One of the most gripping and touching stories I have ever read

—— Peter Snow , Week

This is a gem

—— Mirror

Stands out from the mass of chick-fic like a poppy in a cornfield . . . Glitters with insight

—— Nova

Praise for Lisa Jewell

—— -

Addictively readable

—— The Times

Terrific

—— Sunday Times

A joy . . . a fun summer read

—— Guardian

Tackles serious issues with humour - proving that chick-lit can be intelligent, interesting and huge fun

—— Sunday Express

A triumph

—— Hello

Top marks. Fantastic

—— Heat

Moving and intelligent

—— Independent

Magnetic, unpretentious and bursting with one-liners

—— Cosmopolitan

Jewell's readability and emotional intelligence make her the cream of pop fiction

—— Glamour

Fans of chick-lit will understand when I say that this is a book you simply disappear into

—— Sunday Telegraph

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