The Orwell Tour is all about travelling and writing, exploring the influences of George Orwell and how his experiences shaped his writing. Historian Oliver Lewis, originally from Oxford and now residing in Montgomery, has written a sprawling travelogue which confidently guides the reader through a life, following the literary hero’s past occupancies spanning the globe.

Beginning with Orwell’s birthplace in Motihari, India, the narrative unfolds with vivid descriptions of the bumpy journey aboard a rickety bus from Kathmandu, Nepal, to the place where Orwell’s life began. Lewis thoughtfully portrays the striking contrast between the birthplace of Orwell, now an abandoned bungalow that barely welcomes a single visitor each year, and the family’s subsequent move to “soggy England”. 

From there, the reader embarks on a trip to Myanmar, Berkshire, Paris, Middlesex, London, Hertfordshire, Lancashire, Catalonia, Marrakech, London again, Argyllshire and finally Oxfordshire, all through the descriptions of Lewis and his own experience walking in Orwell’s shoes, and his stories. Touching on Orwell’s time in Paris as he created his pseudonym and published his works, the story of Orwell’s storytelling is engaging from start to finish.