Down And Out In Paris & London

When most of us think of George Orwell, we think of his two most famous books, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. About a month ago, I decided to read some of his less well-known works and I've just finished his book, Down and Out in Paris and London which I thoroughly enjoyed and wholeheartedly recommend. It provides a compelling and unsentimental description of poverty as Orwell provides a semi-autobiographical account of a penniless British writer who finds himself destitute in both Paris and then London. As a dishwater in Paris, he describes in excruciating detail the horrors of what goes on behind the scenes in the kitchens of posh French restaurants. In London, he encounters the disturbing world of street people and charitable shelters. Narrated with occasional humour, it is a great read and provides some Orwellian truths about poverty and society.