Bread & roses
ORWELL’S ROSES, by Rebecca Solnit (Granta, $32.99)
Who knew that an old garden could seed so many rambling tendrils of thought, so many stories and insights and reconsiderations? Orwell’s Roses is about one of the most influential writers in the English language, and his roses – and revolution. It’s also a love letter to roses themselves, flowers that symbolise desire, beauty and tradition.
American essayist Rebecca Solnit explores these ideas in flower beds of sprawling and luscious prose. The best chapters, though, are about George Orwell. She visits his old cottage in the English countryside to search.
