News of a secret surveillance program by the National Security Agency has had an unexpected side-effect, fueling sales of a novel that was first published in 1949. Politico reports that sales have shot up for George Orwell’s “1984.”

The book focuses on a totalitarian state that closely monitors its population.

“As of Wednesday morning, four different editions of the book are in the top 40 of Amazon’s ‘Movers and Shakers’ list with the highest ranking at 17,” the story reports. “At one point, the Centennial Edition’s popularity was up nearly 10,000 percent and clocked in at third most popular on the list.”

Michael Sheldon, the author of “Orwell: The Authorized Biography,” reportedly told NPR that the NSA’s “broad net of surveillance is exactly the kind of threat Orwell feared.”

Politico quotes a description of “1984” that says: “‘Thought Police.’ ‘Big Brother.’ ‘Orwellian’ — these words have entered our vocabulary because of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, ‘1984.’ The story of one man’s nightmare odyssey as he pursues a forbidden love affair through a world ruled by warring states and a power structure that controls not only information but also individual thought and memory, ‘1984’ is a prophetic, haunting tale.”