From Burma to Big Brother: George Orwell’s best books – ranked!

The list ranks ten of George Orwell’s books, running from A Clergyman’s Daughter at number 10 up to Animal Farm at number 1, and summarises what each contributes to his work. At 10, A Clergyman’s Daughter casts Orwell’s usual surrogate as Dorothy Hare, a repressed woman who loses memory, identity and faith; Orwell later called it "tripe" apart from its dream-like Trafalgar Square chapter.

Burmese Days (9) revisits his time as a colonial policeman in Burma, evoking corruption and guilt through John Flory’s struggle to live honestly. Coming Up for Air (8) follows George Bowling on a nostalgic visit to his boyhood home amid fears Britain might slide into fascism.

The Road to Wigan Pier (7) pairs searing reportage on northern working-class life with a polemic for a purer socialism, and its first part still holds up. Down and Out in Paris and London (6) is a memoir of dishwashing and tramping that already shows Orwell’s tragicomic eye and empathy, though Paris is judged superior.

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