Recently the audible daily deal was the book Julia which is a sequel/companion book to George Orwell’s 1984 and I bought it and thought I’d better refresh my memory by re-reading 1984 first. When I used to go around schools doing author visits I had a power point slide show and talked about books that had made a big impact on me growing up, and this was one of them. I acutely remember reading this as a teenager (in the 1980s!) and being blown away by it, especially one particular jaw dropping moment. I don’t know why, maybe because I knew what was coming, but this time round I was much less blown away. Sure it’s an interesting and in some ways worryingly prescient (I know my smart devices listen to our conversations because I see ads for things we have discussed but that I hadn’t done any actual google searching or browsing about!) story, but I struggled to empathise with Winston Smith. I’m quite curious to see how I find Julia now all the same…
Sarah Wray Writer 