London,chief city of Airstrip One,the third most populous province of Oceana.
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 routinely breaks the rules but also collaborates with the regime whenever necessary.
Everyone likes Julia.
A diligent member of the Junior Anti-Sex League (though she is secretly promiscuous) 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 - when she sees him locking eyes with a superior from the Inner Party at the Two Minutes Hate.
And when one day,finding herself walking toward Winston,she impulsively hands him a note - a potentially suicidal gesture - 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: Granta BooksISBN: 9781783789153Number of pages: 400Weight: 619 gDimensions: 234 x 153 x 28 mm
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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 oeuvreA powerful feat of imagination and empathy which breathes new life into Orwell's nightmareIn 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 ownJulia 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-FourNewman 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 puristsA 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 worldThis 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
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