Coming Up for Air Author:George Orwell "The idea really came to me the day I got my new false teeth." With this disarming opening sentence, George Orwell begins one of his most important and poignant novels. Set in England in 1938, it is nevertheless our story; of yesterday, today and tomorrow--of man's struggle against the forces of "progress" that are stripping him of his individ... more »uality, of his appreciation of beauty and ultimately, of his ability to enjoy life. On the surface, it is the story of George Bowling, a middle-class business man, caught in the web of society's making, who tries, with some money he has won at a race, to "come up for air." His story is told with compassion, humor, nostalgia, and above all, a sorrowful realization of the fact that you truly can't ever go home.« less