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An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell's 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith's lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman.
Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It's 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania. Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember, and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell's 1984.
All her life, Julia has known only Oceania, and, until she meets Winston Smith, she has never imagined anything else. She is an ideal citizen: cheerfully cynical, always ready with a bribe, piously repeating every political slogan while believing in nothing. She routinely breaks the rules, but also collaborates with the regime when necessary. Everyone likes Julia.
Then one day she finds herself walking toward Winston Smith in a corridor and impulsively slips him a note, setting in motion the devastating, unforgettable events of the classic story. Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell's now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe. This unique perspective lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.
Here are some of the comments posted about Julia.
You can see the full discussion here.
Do you see parallels between how we are living now to the world of Orwell's 1984? How about parallels to past world events? Does "Julia" introduce different parallels to "1984"?
The most frightening parallel is the mounting acceptance of the idea that the government cannot be questioned and that to do so is a "threat to democracy." - Lyris
Do you think surveillance makes us safer? What is the difference between a device like Alexa and the telescreens of 1984? What about closed-circuit television?
I think the current surveillance of social media is particularly dangerous. On the one hand it is used to cancel people who say anything that is currently disapproved, and on the other when someone posts threats to kill someone, nothng seems to be ... - Lyris
Do you think the Spies is an effective tool for achieving the Party's ends? In what ways do we indoctrinate our children today? What is the line between indoctrination and teaching values?
You absolutely teach the children what and how to think. WE all always do. Seeing it given a label such as "Nazi Youth" or "Red Guard" may make us feel like WE don't do that, but we do. Again, to see how easy it is to ... - lesleyf
Have you read "1984"? How familiar were you with the world of "Julia" before reading it? What language and concepts had you heard before?
I read 1984, Handmaid's Tale, Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 probably in my 20s, and I think at the time I only saw them as parables, or reflections of what the Soviet Union was doing in the 1950s & 1960s. I remember finding them ... - kimk
How do you think a person's idea of what is factual becomes distorted? Do you feel there's a way we can avoid being manipulated into false views?
The hardest lesson to learn, I think, is that just because you disagree with a person's viewpoint doesn't necessarily make the other person wrong. I feel like some people get so entrenched in their positions that they've lost the ... - kimk
Darcey Steinke, author of Sister Golden Hair
If you thought you knew Julia, as 1984's Manic Pixie Dream Girl, be warned. In Sandra Newman's compelling retelling, Julia has both a conniving agency as well as an escalating and tragic fragmentation. Oceania, Newman insists, has a whole other layer of dystopian horror for its women. J. Robert Lennon, author of Subdivision and Broken River
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.
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