Julia by Sandra Newman

My triad of totalitarian/dystopian novels—1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451—is now a quartet. I just finished Sandra Newman’s Julia which tells the story of George Orwell’s1984 from the viewpoint of Winston Smith’s lover, Julia Worthing (Orwell didn’t give her a last name). Newman has given us a fully fleshed out female protagonist with her own backstory, agency, and motivations. There is a lot more to Julia than what we see in 1984.

We see Julia’s interactions with Winston and events involving Winston through her eyes. She refers to him as Old Misery because of his dour disposition and apparent dislike of women. Between these scenes, we are shown the lives of Outer Party women in Big Brother’s London in grim detail. Unlike Winston who has his own apartment, Julia has a bed in the open bay, barracks-like hostel, Women’s 21. This gives us an intimate look at the daily lives of the women living in close quarters. Likewise, through Julia we see the lives of the proles (i.e. non-party members) with whom she engages in black market activities.

Julia is an excellent companion to 1984 and skillfully shows us a different side to the story. I very much recommend reading or rereading 1984 first, before opening Julia. You need to have the events of 1984 fresh in your mind. I really can’t give more detail about Julia because I don’t want to spoil the story but I love everything about the way Newman builds on the story of 1984 and gives it her voice. Julia takes nothing away from 1984 but rather blends the two storys.The ending is superbly understated and made me sit back and say hmmm.

I got Julia from the library but need to add it to my permanent collection.