Author(s): George Orwell

Classics/Literature

George ""Tubby"" Bowling is a grimly successful middle-aged insurance salesman, diligently paying the mortgage on a typical English suburban row house and supporting an ungrateful family. As the years pass, he begins to see his wife and children as wardens and himself as a prisoner, feeling like a hostage to them. After winning a wager at the races, George sneaks away from his family to go fishing for carp in a pool he remembers from thirty years ago in the village where he grew up. The pool is no longer there, the hamlet has changed dramatically, and the highlight of his vacation is an RAF bombing-the ideal way to end his vacation.