Animal Farm

The book reflects the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. Orwell wrote the book between November 1943 and February 1944, when the UK was in a wartime alliance with the Soviet Union and the British people, and the intelligentsia held Stalin in high esteem, a phenomenon Orwell hated.

The manuscript was initially rejected by several British and American publishers, including one of Orwell's own, Victor Gollancz, which delayed its publication. It became a great commercial success when it did appear partly because international relations were transformed as the wartime alliance gave way to the Cold War. Time magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005 ); it is also featured at number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century novels. It won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996 and is also included in the Great Books of the Western World selection.