Julia - by Sandra Newman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A PEOPLE Magazine Must-Read Book for Fall 2023 An Esquire Best Book of Fall 2023 A Guardian Biggest New Book of 2023 A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2023

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. In this gripping work of feminist fiction, 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 in this dystopian society: 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 on a forbidden love under totalitarian rule lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.

This masterful retelling reimagines the classic novel as a story of female resilience, cynical survival, and daring rebellion.

Review Quotes

"A book whose disturbing imagination reaches through the page into our world." - Naomi Alderman, New York Times Book Review, on The Men

"Heady and elegant . . . The Heavens is something of a chameleon, a strange and beautiful hybrid . . . I woke from The Heavens as I hope to emerge from any work of fiction: moved and unsettled, a new and intoxicating set of questions alight on the mind's horizon." - Laura Van Den Berg, New York Times Book Review

"Special books are Sandra Newman's specialty, and The Heavens is no exception . . . If you decide to delve into it, Newman will take you on quite a ride through her vivid imagination." - Lynn Neary, NPR Weekend Edition

"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."

"Newman seems uniquely qualified to update Orwell's anti-fascist cri du coeur...She embroiders the edges of the original WWII-flavored vision with myriad amusing flourishes...Book clubs could have great fun reading the two together." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"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." - Darcey Steinke, author of Sister Golden Hair

"As with Nineteen Eighty-Four, Julia is a first-rate novel, expertly plotted, with fantastic, nail-biting suspense and many smart turns and clever phrases. Newman is doing Orwell, and, at times, outdoing him." - Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic

"Offers a female character with a rich inner life. Her Julia is a survivor, more subversive than Winston, adroit at evading control, finding a kind of liberty...A twisty ending in keeping with the original makes this an enjoyable read even to those unfamiliar with 1984...This Julia cannot help but balance out [Orwell's] blind spots and bring his opus up to date." - The Economist

"Julia is a welcome reminder of just how vital Orwell's text still is--and how much fun can be had in its unexplored corners." - Esquire

"Newman does much more than update 1984, she makes it seem essential reading again." - Sunday Times (London)

"A formidable task, to take on a classic and remake it from a new perspective. The bar is set high by Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea (1966)... Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad (2005)... [and] Natalie Haynes's A Thousand Ships (2019)...In Julia, the American novelist Sandra Newman courageously takes on George Orwell's 1984, by mirroring the tale through the eyes of Winston Smith's lover. Spoiler alert: she succeeds, brilliantly." - Telegraph (UK)

"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." - Los Angeles Times

"Remarkable...For a little while, just a little, readers can hope that rebellions aren't always doomed, and an individual might have some power over the collective." - Associated Press

"The realm Newman describes is no more free nor tolerant than the one Orwell made famous, but it's given considerably more room to breathe...All this flows from her lively heroine, Julia, which is a brilliant strategy for re-seeing this iconic story... it's a thoughtful exploration of a clever woman's survival within an unimaginably cruel bureaucracy." - Washington Post Book World

"As George Orwell predicted, Big Brother is indeed watching us, making his classic novel, 1984, ripe for revival. This daring retelling moves Winston Smith to the side and centers his badass girlfriend." - People

"A fascinating reflection on totalitarianism as refracted through Orwell's times and our own." - The Guardian

"Brilliant...fresh...Wonderful." - Booklist

"Newman delivers a provocative feminist retelling of George Orwell's 1984...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 gray to Orwell's gloomy world." - Publishers Weekly

"Electrically memorable, Julia is as startling and incendiary as 1984 ever was, with dark humor and pathos commenting on perennially timely questions." - Shelf Awareness