The Sisterhood: Big Brother is watching. But they won't see her coming.

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No Season But the Summer by Matilda Leyser: A poetic revisioning of the Persephone myth in an era of climate crisis. Detractors of retellings might argue that there is an unoriginality about them, but writers point out that myths and legends stem from a culture of oral storytelling, where tales were told over and over, each iteration bringing something new.

These retellings are at their best when they are interested in questioning all kinds of power structures, across gender, race, and class, just as Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea – a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre – did in 1966. I think retellings are always going to be around,” says Keetch. “It will ultimately always depend on readers and their appetite for things.” A dazzling retelling of the classic dystopian novel, which raises profound questions about how society works, and whether or not woman have political agency. I found it memorable, deeply moving, and at times, terrifying' KATE RHODESSinister, chilling and heart-breaking, it’s a worthy successor to Orwell’s dystopian classic, allowing readers to explore a new version of Julia’s story' As Willa Cather once observed, “there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” Like a prism, we hold a familiar tale up to the light, turn it this way and that, and marvel at it anew. Re-emerging soon

It has been wonderful to see the increasing wealth of retellings, especially the diversity in stories from other cultures including Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Korean and Japanese,” she adds. “I believe we are far from a saturation point, if it even exists. There is so much possibility, particularly for diverse retellings, those based on stories that might be lesser known beyond their country but hold as much magic and wonder.” But nowhere have these kinds of stories been more fully explored than in literature, where the impulse to reinvent old characters and reimagine old plots can be seen across almost every genre and aimed at every kind of readership. Commonly hinged on the big players of the Western canon – classical mythology, European fairytales, Shakespeare, the Bible – a steady stream of retellings have allowed readers to experience familiar tales in new lights. I think it's just greed for power ultimately, isn't it? I think that there will always be some people who will want more than their fair share. “Should there be a retelling of 1984?” somebody asked me. When we look at the news now, there is a lot of discussion and debate and thought about fairness in society and who has the power and how the power is wielded. And I wonder what Orwell would say about surveillance. For example, would he say that we don't have to worry anymore? Would he be quite relaxed about having an Alexa in his home? I don't think so. I think he would bang the drum. I like to think he would say: “Bang it louder, louder. We need to be worried about this. We need to be careful about what we give over to other people voluntarily out of trust.”’ A gut-wrenching, heart-breaking journey through the looking glass of 1984 . Compulsively written, Julia’s is a story begging to be told' FREYA BERRY, author of The Dictator's Wife We underestimate how much a part of literature is rewriting existing literature," agrees Newman. "You want to write something that says what the last book you read didn't say. When you narrow it down to one book, the scales fall from your eyes, and you realise that that's what you've been doing all along."In this highly original take on Orwell’s 1984 – the Big Brother of all dystopian classics – Bradley weaves a complex and engaging plot around the idea of a female resistance to oppressive overlords. Oppressive and creepy, but with real heart’ Taking an powerful, iconic and well known existing book and writing a before, after, sideways or alternative version is always a venture fraught with pitfalls. And one which rarely succeeds, as the long shadow and presence of the original often overpowers the later venture. With Proserpine – as with much of her work – Shelley was ahead of her time. Today, feminist retellings of classical mythology from the perspective of minor, sidelined, or adjunct female characters is a booming industry, with Ursula K. Le Quin, Margaret Atwood, Madeline Miller, Pat Barker, Jennifer Saint, Natalie Haynes and many others all putting their stamp on the genre. Readers, it seems, can’t get enough. If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us With Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell constructed an unforgettable fictional world, but one riddled with mysteries. Some unanswered questions - does Big Brother really exist? Was Julia working for the Thought Police all along? - feel like strategic ambiguities. Others, such as the operation of the telescreen or details of life in the "prole district", seem more like omissions. Perhaps Orwell decided that they were irrelevant to his mission of explaining the psychology of totalitarianism. Perhaps, because he was desperately ill with tuberculosis, and racing to finish the book between hospitalisations, he simply didn't have the time or energy to plug the gaps. Then again, all novelists have their blind spots and weaknesses, so it's possible that Orwell didn't even register how much he had left unexplained.

When Julia thinks she's found a potential member of The Brotherhood, it seems like their goal might finally be in their grasp. But as she gets closer to Winston Smith, Julia's past starts to catch up with her and we soon realise that she has many more secrets than we'd first imagined - and that overthrowing Big Brother might cost her everything - but if you have nothing left to lose then you don't mind playing the game . . . Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson: A queer, feminist retelling of the Hercules myth from the perspective of the forgotten women and male lovers who shaped the life of Greece’s greatest hero. Unfortunately, The Sisterhood doesn’t come close. The early part of the book uses too much of Orwell, there are too many nods and obvious references, so that the reader (well, this reader) wanted a writer who used more of her own inventive imagination, rather than needing Orwell’s to give the whole point. Julia's story is divided into two parts, the past and the present, both ultimately converging to produce an ending that goes out with a bang. Closer to home, there is a similar interest in re-examining the stories that resonate deeply in our collective imagination. Jean Bedford’s Sister Kate reworks the Kelly gang legend from the point of view of Ned’s sister, Kate, while Leah Purcell interrogates Henry Lawson’s short story in The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson.

Sadly, The Sisterhood failed to provide any further meaningful insight to the world of 1984. By failing to sidestep the imposing shadow of the Orwell work, it struggled to emphasise its own originality or necessity. In Oceania, whoever you are, Big Brother is always watching you and trust is a luxury that no one has. Julia is the seemingly perfect example of what women in Oceania should be: dutiful, useful, subservient, meek. But Julia hides a secret. A secret that would lead to her death if it is discovered. For Julia is part of the underground movement called The Sisterhood, whose main goal is to find members of The Brotherhood, the anti-Party vigilante group, and help them to overthrow Big Brother. Only then can everyone be truly free. Simon & Schuster has acquired The Sisterhood, a feminist retelling of George Orwell’s 1984 by teacher Katherine Bradley. Mark followed this by asking Katherine Bradley about how she built her own world within George Orwell’s 1984: ‘What I really was interested in was this recreation that you have made of the surveillance society, how difficult was it creating this society?’ Katherine Bradley has delivered a worthy counterpart to George Orwell's 1984 in this chilling, taut book. It's as claustrophobic as it needs to be; particularly frightening as one looks around and sees that we are voluntarily moving towards Orwell's nightmare. It is nothing short of a triumph' MARA TIMON, author of City of Spies

Orwell wrote six novels, three classic works of non-fiction, and more than a million words of journalism, but in IP terms everything else is dwarfed by the twin peaks of his career: Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. They are two very different books with a shared political agenda. First Orwell explained the rise of Soviet totalitarianism in the form of a farmyard allegory; four years later, he used dystopian science fiction to anatomise the methods of an all-powerful totalitarian state. One was a lesson from the recent past; the other a warning to the future. For as long as regimes seek to distort reality and suppress liberty, these books will have anxious readers. In Oceania, whoever you are, Big Brother is always watching you and trust is a luxury that no one has. What a great idea, to look at George Orwell's novel "1984" through a feminist lens and the eyes of the character Julia, Winston's Smith's sometime lover! The disparities between the rich and poor and class divide in this country haven’t dissipated – perhaps only deepened. The wars are depressingly similar. As a woman, I was interested in Julia and wondered if he was writing now without the 1940s gaze, would Orwell write her differently? With agency? And if she had hopes and fears and choices of her own, what would they be? Meanwhile, Solomons describes writing Fair Rosaline as “imagining it like a ship, where above the surface you’ve got Romeo and Juliet, and underneath is what I’m writing, but it has to match perfectly”.Frightening and timely, Bradley’s The Sisterhood is the book everyone should read this year. If you thought it ended with Orwell, think again . . .' CHRISTINA DALCHER Armstrong said: "I was blown away by Katherine’s initial pitch for The Sisterhood. As an English teacher, she has taught 1984 for many years and knows the text intimately, so it has been so exciting to see her take that initial story and reimagine it in the way she has. Here Katherine has given Julia full agency and created a history and emotional depth to a character that was merely a bit part player in the original story. This is a story about love, about family, about being a woman, a mother, a sister, a friend, but ultimately, it’s about what you would sacrifice for the greater good. This is perfect for fans of Christine Dalcher’s Vox and The Handmaid’s Tale, and I am incredibly excited about publishing in March with our stunning cover."