Whilst living in Paris, George Orwell's few remaining funds are stolen and he quickly falls into a life of severe poverty. Living hand to mouth, he shares squalid lodgings with Russian-born Boris and finds tedious and back-breaking work washing up in the bowels of Paris restaurant kitchens. On his return to England, he lives as a tramp, finding occasional shelter in often dangerous doss houses.

Down and Out in Paris and London was George Orwell's first published book. It is at once a very personal account, and a vivid expose of hard lives weighed down by poverty in France and England between the wars.

This Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an introduction by Lara F