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The Road to Wigan Pier

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About this listen

A graphic and biting polemic that still holds a fierce political relevance and impact despite being written over half a century ago. First published in 1937 it charts George Orwell's observations of working-class life during the 1930s in the industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. His depictions of social injustice and rising unemployment, the dangerous working conditions in the mines amid general squalor and hunger also bring together many of the ideas explored in his later works and novels.

©2012 Canongate Books (P)2012 George Orwell Essays Politics & Government Poverty & Homelessness Social Classes & Economic Disparity Social Sciences Sociology Nonfiction Thought-Provoking Socialism
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I had a vague idea what this book was about - a middle class George Orwell goes 'Up North' to see how the working classes live - but I wasn't expecting it to be such a personally touching story. My family are from West Yorkshire and, as far back as we can go, we have been miners, living in the small mining communities that are described in The Road To Wigan Pier. Infact, my Grandad started down the pit in 1937 - as a 15 year old boy, the year this book was published - and the descriptions of the lives and homes of the mining families really hit home for me. The visceral account of how the miners would have to crawl through miles of dark and dusty tunnels before they even reached the coal face - and then do their 7 hours of difficult and dangerous graft before making the return trip - made my knees and back ache in sympathy for my young Grandad; no doubt it would have been my lot had I been born 50 years earlier.

Orwell's writing is superb, and this first half of the book flew by, but I wasn't expecting the sudden shift into polemic that takes up the second half and I kinda lost the flow for a while, but it turned out to be a very interesting insight into that strange period - just before WWII - when Fascism, Socialism and Capitalism were fighting for dominance. And, interestingly, many of his arguments about what was wrong in society rang true for our own times: unemployment, housing shortages, the poor eating junk food, and the onslaught of crass media, cheap clothes and technological toys that distracted the masses from engaging in meaningful debate or action.

So overall this was an extremely interesting read - if not an entertaining one - and I would thoroughly recommend it.

Road to Wigan Pier

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A reference to this book during the recent general election made me realise that I hadn’t read it. To my surprise it isn’t a novel, but powerful descriptions of the author’s first-hand investigations into the dire working conditions of miners in the 1930s and the pitiful standards of housing for the poor. The final section is a hopeful polemic that socialism and equality will prevail in the future and social class differences disappear.

Not a book that can be described as enjoyable: more a salutory reminder of what many people suffered in life in the relatively recent past in this country, and still do in many others. I felt humbled by the contrast with my own comfortable life.

The reader is excellent.

Insight into prewar poverty and exploitation

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, really interesting primary source evidence of living conditions at that time.

What does Jeremy Northam bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
He is a fantastic narrator, he has a wonderful almost Burton-esque voice. Really brings the passion of the author to the piece. This is not supposed to be a dry impartial history. His reading makes that abundantly clear.

Any additional comments?
Part one can amaze you. The issues (though people’s lives are much improved now) are still relevant today. Part two is a confused rant in places, but keeps one interested enough. Corbyn could do with reading the final two chapters. My god Orwell really dislikes vegetarians.

Still relevant today.

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The first part about life in a coal mining village is excellent. The second half is a commentary on class and politics and is finely tuned predictions which are half right and half wrong. The main stumbling block for me wad the narrator who talks with an overt contempt which sounds more like a bigot than balanced philosopher. He seems to have taken a view that the book is a diatribe against nearly everything. A judgement you nat not get when reading the book neutrally.

A book of two halves

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It is surprising how, beneath the skin, little has changed in our society since the 1930s . Orwell's warnings to the labour movement about becoming more inclusive and more broadly based ring true and should be a warning to the Labour Party of Kier Starmer. Fascism is againon the rise, albeing in a differnt form to the 1930s and we seem oblivious to it.

Still very relevant

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