Description

“a fascinating reflection on totalitarianism as refracted through Orwell’s times and our own” The Guardian

London, chief city of Airstrip One, the third most populous province of Oceania. It’s 1984 and Julia Worthing works as a mechanic fixing the novel-writing machines in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. Under the ideology of IngSoc and the rule of the Party and its leader Big Brother, Julia is a model citizen – cheerfully cynical, believing in nothing and caring not at all about politics. She knows how to survive in a world of constant surveillance, Thought Police, Newspeak, Doublethink, child spies and the black markets of the prole neighbourhoods. She’s very good at staying alive.

But Julia becomes intrigued by a colleague from the Records Department – a mid-level worker of the Outer Party called Winston Smith, she comes to realise that she’s losing her grip and can no longer safely navigate her world.

Seventy-five years after Orwell finished writing his iconic novel, Sandra Newman has tackled the world of Big Brother in a truly convincing way, offering a dramatically different, feminist narrative that is true to and stands alongside the original. For the millions of readers who have been brought up with Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, here, finally, is a provocative, vital and utterly satisfying companion novel.

Publisher Review

Sandra Newman opens out the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four by looking at that novel’s events from a female point of view. From Julia’s life in a women’s dormitory through her affair with Winston Smith and torture by the Thought Police, on to a meeting with Big Brother himself, it’s a fascinating reflection on totalitarianism as refracted through Orwell’s times and our own * Guardian * Newman does much more than update Nineteen Eighty-Four, she makes it seem essential reading all over again… exhilarating * The Sunday Times * Newman is a powerful writer and particularly smart on the historical resonances… The violence is sickening, and meant to be. Newman never leaves you alone, never turns off the light, never gives it a rest until, strapped in our chair, we learn the meaning of HARDREAD… it’s beautifully done * The Times * Called simply Julia, Newman’s novel is so ingenious, sensitive to the original, and above all witty that one can imagine Orwell thoroughly enjoying it * Daily Telegraph * This extraordinary novel is like a newly discovered room in your house, in a dream – the illusion is so precise, the execution so masterful, that you think it must have been there all along, just waiting for you to find it. Sandra Newman has succeeded wildly at the impossible task she was given; JULIA should surprise and delight not only devotees of Orwell’s classic, but fans of Newman’s own daring, disquieting, and emotionally affecting oeuvre — J. Robert Lennon A powerful feat of imagination and empathy which breathes new life into Orwell’s nightmare — Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 In Julia, Sandra Newman opens out the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four by looking at that novel’s events from a female point of view. From Julia’s life in a women’s dormitory through her affair with Winston Smith and torture by the Thought Police, on to a meeting with Big Brother himself, it’s a fascinating reflection on totalitarianism as refracted through Orwell’s times and our own — What to read this autumn: 2023’s biggest new books * The Guardian * Julia offers a female character with a rich inner life… A twisty ending in keeping with the original makes this an enjoyable read even to those unfamiliar with Nineteen Eighty-Four * Economist * Newman seems uniquely qualified to update Orwell’s anti-fascist cri du cour… All the familiar lineaments are here-Airstrip One, Oceania, Big Brother, Newspeak, the Ministries of Truth and Love, the dreaded Room 101, the rats (oy, the rats), as well as every character, many of them revised in clever ways… Adding a major plot twist, a nice shot of (somewhat cynical) hope, and more graphic sex should win over even purists * Kirkus * A provocative, feminist retelling… Julia’s narrative voice is refreshingly fearless as she navigates her way around the Party’s nefarious thought policing, and a wicked plot twist spins the original narrative on its ear. Newman adds a fresh coat of menacing grey to Orwell’s gloomy world * Publishers Weekly * This brilliant novel is about as ambitious as you can get… The novel closely follows the original story, but also expands on it, opening up new corners of the world to make it even darker, more vividly real… This is not a rewriting of Nineteen Eighty-Four; it’s a faithful, respectful retelling of a familiar story from a fresh new angle. Wonderful * Booklist * A vibrant, full-blooded book that adheres to the spirit of the original while tearing elements of it – namely the character of Winston Smith – to pieces… What is so wonderful about this is not just its depiction of Julia as even cleverer than you might imagine, but also its rich understanding of what Orwell meant about society’s three strata locked in an endless battle for supremacy * I Paper * Dazzlingly clever * I Newspaper * Excellent… Bold, eloquent, and often drawn to the psychologically unsettling, Newman is a worthy recipient of the iconic 1984 baton * Big Issue * [A] gripping read * Literary Review * Delicious and provocative * The Gloss * In Julia, the American novelist Sandra Newman courageously takes on George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, by mirroring the tale through the eyes of Winston Smith’s lover. Spoiler alert: she succeeds, brilliantly… This is truly a book about being in the body of a woman. Julia is a fascinating, violent novel… Newman accomplishes the challenge she set herself – and then some * Daily Telegraph * Wholly engaging in its own right yet also a reminder of Orwell’s genius and the real-world chill that cut through his horrifying dystopia… Immersive… Newman writes with great verve; her descriptions have the kind of energy and freshness needed for a successful retelling… Newman succeeds in giving voice to all these women, but her chief success is undoubtedly her reimagining of Julia herself, no longer just a pawn, a woman betrayed, now a fully realised force to be reckoned with, a woman living by her wits in a treacherously choppy world, hoping to stay afloat * Irish Times * Newman turns Orwell’s classic vision of the future inside out, and readers will find themselves gripped and surprised by what happens when the object of Winston Smith’s gaze looks back, and retells their journey into love and resistance… Intimate and compromised relationships become the beating heart of the novel, and demonstrate how women’s lives under this totalitarian state inevitably differ from men’s at every point… As she maps out this new territory, Newman forges a work that has its own emotional logic, and a character with her own vivid life * Guardian * A timely reminder of how easily the language of hate can be manufactured and manipulated… it’s also sometimes darkly funny * Daily Mail * Punchy… Vivid, even ugly, the novel’s energy relies on making explicit the violence that Orwell only implied – a risky strategy that pays dividends. There’s a killer twist, too * Mail on Sunday * Julia is a devastating read… Newman is so virtuosic, this book won’t let you put it down * New Scientist * For all its totalitarian grimness and spite, most people were thrilled by 1984. What a shame Orwell couldn’t do another one. It has taken 74 years for someone to attempt to fill that void, and Julia is of a vivacity that would have caused the Ministry of Truth’s fiction machines to throw a crankshaft … It may have taken three quarters of a century, but 1985 has arrived at last * Strong Words * A richly envisaged, frightening dystopia, wholly alive to Orwell’s text, which acts as both a mirror to 1984 and stands alone as an original and deeply fascinating feminist work… In Julia, Newman has delivered a novel that even the Party would recognise as Doubleplusgood * Financial Times * Nineteen Eighty-Four remains a totemic piece of political literature, but Julia offers contemporary readers new ways of thinking about Orwell’s novel while ingeniously constructing its own, fully realised, world * The Conversation * Newman hasn’t proved herself a worthy successor to Orwell; she’s outclassed him, both in knowledge of human nature and in character development. Julia should be the new required text on those high-school curricula, a stunning look into what happens when a person of strength faces the worst in humanity, as well as a perfect specimen of derivative art that, in standing on another’s shoulders, can reach a higher plane * LA Times * Subversive… A thoughtful exploration of a clever woman’s survival within an unimaginably cruel bureaucracy… And her ending – oh, if we could only talk about the ending! * Washington Post * Buzzy * Daily Telegraph *