The George Orwell books in order include six fiction books, three major book-length works of nonfiction, and a much larger body of essays, journalism, letters, diaries, broadcasts, and posthumous collections. Orwell is best known for Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, but those two books represent only one part of his writing career.
His work ranges from literary fiction and political satire to social reportage, memoir, criticism, and wartime commentary. This guide begins with the books most readers are looking for, then separates the major collections and edited volumes so alternate titles, reprints, and component volumes are not mistaken for entirely new works.
Jump to:
- George Orwell Fiction Books
- George Orwell Nonfiction Books
- George Orwell Essay Collections and Pamphlets
- George Orwell Diaries, Letters, Broadcasts, and Collected Works
- George Orwell Adaptations
- About George Orwell
George Orwell Fiction Books
Orwell’s six fiction books are independent stories, so you can read them in any order. I recommend starting with Animal Farm if you want the shortest introduction to his political fiction, or Nineteen Eighty-Four if dystopian fiction is the main reason you’re here.
- Burmese Days (1934)
- A Clergyman’s Daughter (1936)
- Animal Farm (1946)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
- Coming Up for Air (1950)
- Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1956)
These are the first U.S. publication years. Coming Up for Air and Keep the Aspidistra Flying appeared much earlier in Britain, which is why this American sequence does not mirror the order in which Orwell wrote the books. Down and Out in Paris and London was his first full-length published book, while Burmese Days was his first novel.
Should I read Animal Farm or 1984 first?
Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, often written as 1984, have different characters, settings, and stories. They share concerns about authoritarian power, propaganda, truth, and political language, but neither book depends on the other.
Orwell wrote Animal Farm from November 1943 to February 1944. It was published in Britain in 1945 and in the United States in 1946, while Nineteen Eighty-Four followed in 1949. I’d start with Animal Farm because it is shorter and gives new readers a direct introduction to Orwell’s political satire. If you specifically want dystopian fiction, starting with Nineteen Eighty-Four works just as well.
George Orwell Nonfiction Books
These are Orwell’s three major book-length works of nonfiction. They cover poverty in Paris and London, his experience fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and working-class life in industrial England. The books are not a series, so I’d choose the subject that interests you most rather than worrying about continuity.
- Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)
- Homage to Catalonia (1952)
- The Road to Wigan Pier (1958)
The dates above are the first U.S. publication years. The Road to Wigan Pier was originally published in Britain in 1937, before Homage to Catalonia in 1938. For a first nonfiction book, my advice is to begin with Down and Out in Paris and London. It is Orwell’s debut book and the simplest entry point into his firsthand social writing.
George Orwell Essay Collections and Pamphlets
Orwell wrote essays, reviews, articles, columns, and scripts throughout his career. Individual pieces such as “A Nice Cup of Tea” and “Shooting an Elephant” are not separate original books, even when later publishers package them alone. I prefer the substantial collections below because they provide more context and avoid counting the same essay several times.
Major Essay Collections and Pamphlets
American editions use their first U.S. publication year. Several important lifetime collections and pamphlets appeared only in Britain, so those titles use their original British year.
- Inside the Whale and Other Essays (1940)
- The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius (1941)
- Dickens, Dali & Others: Studies in Popular Culture (1946)
- The English People (1947)
- Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays (1950)
- Such, Such Were the Joys (1953)
- A Collection of Essays (1954)
- The Orwell Reader: Fiction, Essays, and Reportage (1956)
- The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell (1968)
Critical Essays was the 1946 British collection related to the U.S. volume Dickens, Dali & Others, so they should not be treated as two unrelated Orwell books. England Your England and Other Essays is a closely related British counterpart to Such, Such Were the Joys. The four subtitles An Age Like This, My Country Right or Left, As I Please, and In Front of Your Nose are the four volumes of The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters, not four additional standalone books.
Contextual Penguin Collections
These four volumes pair a major Orwell book with related essays, reviews, letters, and poems from The Complete Works. I think they are useful for readers who want historical and political context, but they are expanded editions rather than four new works.
- Orwell and Politics (2001)
- Orwell and the Dispossessed (2001)
- Orwell in Spain (2001)
- Orwell’s England (2001)
Selected Later Collections
The books below collect previously published essays, journalism, or poetry around a particular theme. You do not need every volume to read Orwell’s major nonfiction, but each offers a distinct selection or editorial focus. Several were first issued outside the United States and do not have distinct U.S. editions, so those dates reflect the original publication.
- Orwell: The Observer Years (2003)
- Why I Write (2004)
- Orwell in Tribune: As I Please and Other Writings, 1943-1947 (2006)
- Books v. Cigarettes (2008)
- All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays (2008)
- Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays (2008)
- Seeing Things as They Are: Selected Journalism and Other Writings (2014)
- George Orwell: The Complete Poetry (2015)
- Orwell on Truth (2017)
- Notes on Nationalism (2018)
- Orwell on Freedom (2018)
- Ruins: Orwell’s Reports as War Correspondent in France, Germany and Austria (2021)
- On Jews and Antisemitism (2022)
Generic editions titled Selected Essays, Selected Writings, or Selected Prose vary by publisher and often duplicate the collections above. The same is true of many miniature editions built around one previously published essay. I would choose one broad collection rather than buying several overlapping selections.
Works Edited by George Orwell
Orwell also edited the following books and wrote introductory material for them. They belong in a complete guide, but they are not books he solely authored.
- Talking to India (1943)
- British Pamphleteers, Volume 1: From the Sixteenth Century to the French Revolution with Reginald Reynolds (1948)
George Orwell Diaries, Letters, Broadcasts, and Collected Works
These posthumous and scholarly editions are the best place to go after Orwell’s fiction books, nonfiction books, and major essay collections. I recommend them for readers who want his working drafts, correspondence, private observations, BBC material, and the fullest surviving record of his writing.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Facsimile of the Extant Manuscript (1984)
- Orwell: The Lost Writings (1985)
- Orwell: The War Commentaries (1986)
- The Complete Works of George Orwell (20 volumes, 1998)
- The Lost Orwell: Being a Supplement to The Complete Works of George Orwell (2006)
- Diaries (2012)
- George Orwell: A Life in Letters (2013)
The War Broadcasts was the British title of the collection published in the United States as Orwell: The Lost Writings, so it is listed only once. The eleven chronologically titled nonfiction volumes within The Complete Works, including A Kind of Compulsion, All Propaganda Is Lies, and Our Job Is to Make Life Worth Living, are component volumes of that set rather than separate additions to Orwell’s bibliography.
George Orwell Adaptations
Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Keep the Aspidistra Flying have received the best-known screen adaptations. I would still read the original books first because each adaptation changes or compresses parts of Orwell’s text.
- 1984 (1953 Studio One television episode)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954 BBC television play)
- Animal Farm (1954 animated film)
- 1984 (1956 film)
- The World of George Orwell: 1984 (1965 BBC television adaptation)
- 1984 (1984 film)
- A Merry War (1998 film)
- Animal Farm (1999 television film)
- Animal Farm (2026 animated film)
A Merry War is the North American title of the film adapted from Keep the Aspidistra Flying. The 1953 American television episode came before the better-known 1954 BBC production, and the BBC adapted the book again in 1965.
About George Orwell
George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, who was born in Motihari, India, in 1903. He grew up and attended school in England before serving in the Indian Imperial Police in colonial Burma from 1922 to 1927. That experience informed Burmese Days and essays including “Shooting an Elephant.”
After leaving Burma, Orwell committed himself to writing and journalism. He lived among poor and working-class communities in Paris and England, reported on industrial conditions in northern England, and fought with a militia aligned with the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) during the Spanish Civil War. He was shot through the throat in Spain, and the conflict became the subject of Homage to Catalonia.
During the Second World War, Orwell worked for the BBC Eastern Service and later served as literary editor of Tribune. His fiction, essays, reportage, broadcasts, and criticism repeatedly examined imperialism, class, propaganda, political language, authoritarianism, and the pressure institutions place on individual conscience. In my view, that range is the best reason to read beyond Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell died in London in 1950.
Looking for more books in order?
If you want more science fiction authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Science Fiction Books in Order index.