When reading this essay on George Orwell by Margaret Atwood in the Guardian, I was struck at how similar my experience was to hers, although I was not as young as Margaret when I discovered Animal Farm and 1984. But as a teenager I was still angered by the injustice of those books and inspired by such incredible writing.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

One of the best opening lines ever! And if you want to read more great opening lines, do so here.

If you haven’t read Orwell yet, as a writer and a human being you should.