Her dystopian poem End of the Century, 1984 is considered by some authors to be a fundamental influence on George Orwell's universal classic 1984, which was published in 1949. O’Shaughnessy wrote her work in 1934, the same year she entered the University College of London to study Psychology. There she met Orwell and married him in 1936. That same year, the couple moved to Barcelona, where she worked as a volunteer, helping to collect the British citizens arriving in the city to join the Republican forces. The couple left the city and returned to the UK in 1937, when the situation in Barcelona got worse and after Orwell was shot in the throat. During the Second World War, she worked for various British government ministries, but her health started to decline and she died before the end of the war.
She lived and worked in Barcelona with her husband, George Orwell, between 1936 and 1937. Some studies have proven her influence over the celebrated author’s work. She is the author of the dystopian poem End of the Century, 1984.