The animals are now free, no longer under the domination of humankind, led by the pigs, especially the domineering Napoleon and the more imaginative Snowball.

From now on, life will forever be sweet, with heated accommodation, education, security, good pensions, and ample food for all.

I first read this book 45 years ago at school, and it was indeed this very same copy, that somehow found its way back to me. (Where has that time gone?)

Back then I thought it a rather sweet kid’s story and was only vaguely aware that it held added meanings.

Reading it again today brought those meanings to the fore. Mister Jones is a substitute Czar, Napoleon could be Stalin, and Snowball must be the chased out Trotsky. Boxer the shire horse, loyal to the end, who adopts the slogan “I must work harder”, could be the Soviet people en masse.

Life on Animal Farm steadily grows harder. There is near starvation, and bullying by Napoleon’s specially trained dogs. This leads to show trials and forced confessions and murder, and the parallels go on and on and on.

Then the hated neighbours invade and after brutal battles they are finally defeated. Animal Farm will remain independent, solely for the animals, though things are about to change forever.

This book was written and first published in 1945 and yet it foretells of the total collapse and ruin of the Soviet way of life. One wonders if George Orwell himself would have been surprised at just how accurate his prophesies became. I suspect not.

Animal Farm is only a short book, my copy runs to just 120 pages, but it is a cracking story that continues to throw up twists and surprises. It can be bought for next to no money and be read in a couple of good sittings.

Go on, treat yourself, remind yourself of what a wonderful work this is. As the blurb says: A biting satire on dictatorship. It is that, and much more besides.

David Carter’s charming new book, “Drift and Badger and the Search for Uncle Mo” is out now. It is a story for older children and adults. Drift, a red deer fawn, is born unseasonably late and will always struggle against his bigger, brasher brethren. His mother travelled deep into the forest to give birth, as the herds moved on far to the north. A tragic accident leaves Drift to fend for himself; to wander the forest, frightened and alone. One moonlit night he stumbles into the crazy badger, Daisy, who begins teaching him the ways of the forest. They set out on the long and eventful journey to locate the herds and find Drift’s missing uncle Mo, but will they find him and can they survive the hazards and dangers of the wild forest? Follow the exciting adventures of Drift and Badger and lose yourself in another world.

To purchase this book, visit Buy Books Online.