In late 1927, at the age of twenty-four, George Orwell relocated to a tiny flat on London's Portobello Road, and from there embarked on a series of exploratory "tramping" expeditions to the city's East End, then a place of great squalor and deprivation.

Later he moved to Paris's bohemian Latin Quarter, where, in early 1929, during a bout of serious illness, he was the victim of a robbery that left him in a state of near destitution, forcing him to work punishing hours in a series of menial jobs, including as a restaurant dishwasher. These real-life experiences laid the foundations for what would be the young writer's first full-length work.