This is a fictionalized account of the future George Orwell's years in the British police in Burma in the early 20th century. I was this-book years old when I learned that Blair was actually born in India, of parents who had emigrated there from England (and who also moved back to said Blighty when Eric was still a young child). It stands to reason, then, that Blair/Orwell was raised on a steady diet of Kipling and tales of glory days. In fact, when he meets his cousins upon being stationed in Burma, he finds nothing but faded grandeur and the bottom of imperial decline. I was a sucker for this book, partly because I am sold on anything that casts a critical eye on British imperialism in the subcontinent. I enjoyed it also partly because we have been drinking from a "1984" firehose for a few years now. It was fascinating to read about the genesis of George Orwell as a writer who bit the hand that fed his family for several generations. There is foreshadowing of "1984", particularly of Julia. Scenes of Eric's Eton education are morbidly fascinating, but also speak to suffering from and enforcing order as part of a perverse logic.