Greetings from Big Brother - Reading & Listening to Julia
Julia by Sandra Newman (Granta Publications) is a feminist retelling of the worldwide appreciated classic Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The plot follows the old classic’s narration almost word by word, but from the female protagonist’s point of view: Julia. When Granta approached us with this title, we knew we had to find a way to celebrate Orwell’s work, whilst promoting this amazing retelling, which you can see was written by a true Orwell connoisseur.
We decided to host a hybrid campaign, that would allow creators to read-along Newman’s novel, whilst also listening along to some sections of Nineteen Eighty-Four that tied particularly well to the 2023 retelling.
The creators were able to make comparisons between the two texts and read and listen to the same story through two different perspectives: Winston Smith’s and Julia’s. This allowed them to engage with the story on a deeper level and create top quality content, both through their posts on the feed and through their stories, where they answered the discussion prompts we gave them in a very detailed way.
The truly innovative extra that we were able to bring to this reading and listening experience, though, was the Whatsapp Broadcast Element. We thought: what better way to make this campaign extremely immersive than for us to become Big Brother and send the creators some (almost always threatening) messages? The creators who signed up for this extra content got one message from Big Brother each day of the Read/Listenalong at 9am on the clock, and they could, of course, reply to them as well. It was a way for Team Tandem to wear their creative hats, and for the readers to immerse themselves in the world of the two books even more.
Here are some testimonials from the creators who took part in the experience:
As usual I adored being part of the Readalong, I got to engage with the book on a deeper level and I just loved this so much! I loved the questions we were asked and really liked the prompts. I really liked seeing what the others in the group produced and discussed. @dyslexicbookreviews
A thrilling retelling of Orwell's bleak vision of the future, this is a must-read for both fans of ‘1984’ and newcomers alike. @nickthebooktoker
What Sandra Newman does so well is to explore how and why someone would not just turn a blind eye to but go along with and actively perpetrate acts of betrayal and deceit against fellow human beings. Julia is humanised and that’s no small feat. @readintotemptation
Intelligent, thought-provoking and powerful, Julia is an absolute must-read for anyone who has read and enjoyed Nineteen Eighty-Four. @the_bookmagnet
A brave and insightful look into 1984, through the eyes of Julia. Tense and atmospheric from the very first pages. An absolute triumph! @booksandbridgewater