https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/dec/07/feminist-retelling-of-nineteen-eighty-four-approved-by-orwells-estate

The estate of George Orwell has approved a feminist retelling of Nineteen Eighty-Four, which reimagines the story from the perspective of Winston Smith’s lover Julia.

One of the great socialist works of dystopian futurism, right up there with Michael Young's The Rise of the Meritocracy, and they're going to ruin it. 1984 has always struck me as a very male tale, basically being about Winston's first love. So I'm not optimistic about a feminist version not being horribly offensive.

Publisher Granta said that Julia understands the world of Oceania “far better than Winston and is essentially happy with her life”.

That seems a little bit pro-Big Brother. Is the message that the future dystopia isn't that bad if you're a woman?

Orwell’s estate said it had been “looking for some time” for an author to tell the story of Smith’s lover, and that Newman, who has previously been longlisted for the Women’s prize and shortlisted for the Guardian first book award, “proved to be the perfect fit”.

The Women's Prize is just for women, it's not necessarily an indicator that she's a radical feminist.

Julia will be published after Granta releases Newman’s new novel The Men – in which every single person with a Y chromosome vanishes from the world – next June.

Cool. Looking forward to it.