He dittoed his comment on " A Clergyman's Daughter " that it " was written simply as an exercise and I oughtn't to have published it, but I was desperate for money [-] At that time I simply hadn't a book in me, but I was half starved and had to turn out something to bring in ?00 or so . " Orwell biographer Jeffrey Meyers found the novel flawed by weaknesses in plot, style and characterisation but praised " a poignant and moving quality [-] that comes from Orwell's perceptive portrayal of the alienation and loneliness of poverty, and from Rosemary's tender response to Gordon's mean misery . " In spite of negative judgments the novel has won its admirers, notably Lionel Trilling, who called it " a " summa " of all the criticisms of a commercial civilization that have ever been made ."
