So I bought this in hardback pretty much as soon as it was published, and yes I have only just read it. I confess I had such high expectations for this 1984 retelling that I wanted to find a quiet day to read it when nothing else was expected of me. I might not have found a totally quiet day yesterday but I absolutely loved this read. Yes, it does make me want to revisit 1984 and then re read Julia which given the size of TBR piles probably isn't going to happen in the short term but maybe one day. Well until then please know that I absolutely recommend this read.

This novel follows in the powerful footsteps of the modern classic, and it’s certainly made an imprint! This companion novel is a must-read for the Orwellians amongst us. Dark and disturbing, yet utterly compelling. Well worth a read!

Read 1984 a long time ago and was intrigued by this retelling from Julia's viewpoint. Did not like the way that Winston was portrayed as a love sick fool. But all the usual nastiness us still there and towards the end of the book leads us to horrible places that you would not believe Julia could recover from. But..... From bit being sure at the beginning which dragged to the fast finishing finale which I held back from rejoicing at.

Sandra Newman’s last two novels “The Heavens” and “The Men” both had strong dystopian elements and while neither could be faulted for ambition I felt both could for execution (the first for too ambitious an attempt to write too many novels, the second for a number of rather clumsy elements). This is her third novel is an officially sanctioned (by Orwell’s estate) “feminist” rewrite of 1984. Here I would say that the ambition is simply in accepting the challenge to rewrite such a classic book which has shaped our societal/political lexicon (and which interestingly is used today freely by both political extremes to criticise what they see as they totalitarian tendencies of their opponents) rather than in the rather constrained approach adopted; and the execution is perhaps as a very result of these very constraints much better. Because effectively what Newman has written is very much a parallel story to 1984 – taking place not just at the same time, but with many of the same scenes and identical occurrences and dialogue, but rather than from the third party point of view filter of Winston Smith, instead told from that of his lover Julia. As a result this is a book I would say that should only be read standalone if you are very familiar with that dystopian classic: if like me you have studied 1984 at school and perhaps read it since, then I would suggest a back to back read of 1984 and then “Julia” as I think you will get much more from the novel that way. Two things that struck me on a re-read of “1984”, and did not particularly endear me to the book on my recent re-read were the lengthy excerpts from Goldstein’s “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism”; and the also lengthy torture scenes. The first is very absent this time (of course the book appears, and Winston still reads it to Julia); instead I really enjoyed the back story given for Julia and the way in which Newman uses it to provide a much wider backstory for Oceania and London/the surrounding countryside itself – one that, at least for me, was convincing and complimentary to “1984”. Similarly, via Julia’s wider travels and wider contacts (from inner party members to proles) we gain a much wider view of Oceanic society – again done well I felt. The second though is very present – and, if anything, even more graphic, as well as accompanied by a to my mind rather gratuitous fetus scene, which I think will turn some readers against the book. The book also I think has a very different relationship to the Big Brother/Party regime – in 1984 is it presented as largely inviolate, undefeatable, and likely to last, if not even strengthen, for the foreseeable future. Here though: we more aware of the hypocrisy at its heart – and the lack of belief of some of the inner party members in the Party; we see how it already has rivalries and jealousies undermining its unity – in fact Smith’s arrest and Julia’s involvement are almost entirely motivated by intra-regime power struggles; we see areas of society where the Party’s grip is already weakened; and the book’s end implies its likely fall. I have seen this criticised as undermining the horror and power of the original book and this indeed is correct but for me it is more historically appropriate: “1984” was at heart about Stalinist USSR and yet that regime went through a variety of upheavals before ceasing to exist only five years after the titular year – and the chaos, the fallout and the legacy of suffering that follows a regime fall is what “Julia” appropriately leaves us with rather than the despair of an unassailable regime of “1984”. Overall then I found this a really good rewrite – one that I felt did not in any way undermine the original but buttressed and expanded it, as well as rewriting it with the benefit of 2nd half 20th Century history.

It takes a writer of courage to ‘retell’ an iconic modern classic such as ‘1984’, a favourite of all time, personally. It is very difficult at the start not to compare, and to see Julia functioning in the Oceania with which we are very familiar. It’s all there: telescreens, posters of BB, Newspeak, Doublethink, the Ministries and slogans. And of course, brutal methods of control. But thankfully, Newman very quickly establishes Julia’s complex character and her own story. Her character and background are fully fleshed out and she emerges as a gutsy feminist, high profile member of The Junior Anti-Sex League, collaborator with BB and a survivor. Through her, we are taken into the SAZ where proles live a feral existence and chillingly, we meet Weeks, owner of the flat with the ‘picture’ which speaks! The only section I didn’t like were the detailed torture scenes. Too visceral, too detailed and the moment when we hear ‘Don’t do it to me’ is truly shocking. Thank you to #NetGalley and #Granta for my ARC