Letter from Orwell to Rayner Heppenstall

A relaxed Orwell describes how he can't get around to writing letters and goes on to suggest that a trip to Jura isn't really that onerous a journey, the main difficulty being the five-mile walk at the end of the process. He mentions catching and shooting his own food and substituting oatcakes and porridge for bread. Significantly, he says he is 'starting another book'. This would be 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', his last.

This is a reply to this letter.

While on Jura, Orwell and his son Richard survived a potentially disastrous boating accident. Rounding the island after an outing, Orwell miscalculated the tide and their small craft narrowly escaped being sucked into a notorious tidal whirlpool called the Corryvreckan. The boat capsized but they managed to scramble to the safety of a small, rocky island where, after some time, they were rescued by a passing lobster fisherman.