Book Synopsis:
Vox meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this feminist reimagining of 1984
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.
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 . . .
This is a story about love, about family, about being a woman, a mother, a sister, a friend and ultimately about what you would sacrifice for the greater good.
My Review:
The Sisterhood is an absorbing, thought provoking read that will definitely stay with me.
I remember really enjoying 1984 when I read it at school so I was very intrigued, if a bit nervous, to read The Sisterhood. This book is being classed as a retelling but I think it’s actually more of a companion book as it tells the story from a different perspective and often helped to give more meaning to certain parts of the books which had confused me before. This book shows Julia’s side of the story which I found very intriguing. She is a bit of a secondary character in 1984 so I enjoyed finding out more about her life and how the new world had affected her. She’s a very interesting character and I quickly warmed to her, thinking she’s very clever and brave for being willing to fight.
The author does a great job of describing the frightening new world that the character’s find themselves in and I enjoyed exploring it more alongside the characters. It’s a world that seems frighteningly realistic and plausible which made me shudder at times. I liked that we find out more about how this world was created which I think was skipped in the original book.
Overall I really liked this book and will definitely be recommending it to others. The book had a nice pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me reading. I thought it was very clever how the author has written this book as it manages to be a companion book to 1984 but also a book which I think would stand on it’s own. The ending was brilliant and I really enjoyed seeing Julia come into her own as a character.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book. If you like clever, dystopian books than I highly recommend this one.
About The Author:
Katherine Bradley enjoyed a twenty-year career managing services for homeless people in Brighton, before retraining as a teacher. She now teaches English in a secondary school academy, finding time to also teach creative writing to adults. She holds a first-class degree in English Literature, in addition to qualifications in teaching, creative writing and coaching. As Kate Bradley, she has published two suspense thrillers – To Keep You Safe (2020) and What I Did (2021). Her work has been described as ‘addictive, original and brilliantly twisty’ by T. M. Logan and ‘heart-stopping’ by David Nicholls. Katherine lives near Brighton with her family. Follow her on Twitter @kate_bradley
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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