Sandra Newman (Granta Books 19 October UK; 24 October US)
WHEN Julia first arrives in London, her mind must rearrange itself around her new life under the ubiquitous telescreens. āSheād started out feeling self-conscious and important, panicked by every careless word and proud of every Partyful comment.ā
Fans of Nineteen Eighty-Four will have spotted the Newspeak of Oceania, the totalitarian state that surveilled its citizensā every twitch in George Orwellās novel. In the original, mononymous Julia was the love interest of a man fighting to preserve truth against the totalitarian impulse to make subjugated citizens agree that 2 + 2 = 5. But 75 years later, the Orwell estate all but anointed Sandra Newman as his successor. With its blessing, she wrote Julia.
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In this new telling, Julia Worthing has a name and story of her own. Part of that story is to re-evaluate noble Winston Smith through her eyes. This book punctures the self-mythologising of a man who marches to his fate for a chance to preserve his ideals. Through Juliaās eyes, we see a self-regarding man-child in an overlarge revolutionary costume that gets him needlessly caught in the machinery of the Ministry of Love.
No one is spared in the reassessment. Newman shows how pompously men can assert high-minded ideals, even as they bend them into the service of far cannier objectives: the socialist ruling class who call themselves the Inner Party, Julia sees, never have wives over 30. āAs soon as she starts to lose her looks, the wife becomes a thought-criminal.ā
But cavilling that women have it harder isnāt the point of this book. It is more like cover for the deeper message. One level down from the obvious, Julia is a chilling examination of why, still, Orwellās dystopia retains its resonance.
Totalitarian rule never starts that way. Juliaās mother recalls idealistic young men, before they figured out how lucrative socialism could be. āIt wasnāt about Big Brother then, or any other particular man ā that was rather the point, I thought,ā she tells Julia. āBut once they had power ā well, then it was a throne and all fought for the throne.ā
Juliaās unspeakable childhood has turned her into a scrappy, amoral survivor. After a life spent tap-dancing through a world of ākeen-eyed informersā, and all those screens, āwhat was left was a set of habits, a personality that was a compendium of behaviours the watchers wanted to seeā. Her instinct for who she needs to be for the screens is so precise, her performances almost convince herself. But new demands for ever more self-abasing demonstrations of fealty never stop coming.
Julia is a devastating read ā it is no spoiler to say Nineteen Eighty-Four didnāt end well, and Juliaās experience is even worse for her cynicism: even the canniest player can only lose this game.
But Newman is so virtuosic, this book wonāt let you put it down. This isnāt just because of her skill. There is never even the most fleeting impression you are rereading a story written last century. Screens watch us today too ā now in numbers that far surpass the Inner Partyās ā but the interests behind them are myriad and opaque. What will they want next? We canāt know, just as Juliaās mother didnāt know. All we know for certain is whatever comes next will retain a basic feature Orwell understood all too well. āIf you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face ā for ever.ā
Sally also recommendsā¦
George Orwell (Penguin)
The book that shaped our understanding of nightmare futures and is claimed by everyone of every political persuasion as their own. Read it and join the Party!
Sally Adee is a technology andĀ science writer based inĀ London. Follow her onĀ Twitter @sally_adee
