The Sisterhood by Katherine Bradley
In Oceania, whoever you are, Big Brother is always watching you. 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 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.
About the author
Katherine Bradley worked for many years managing services for people who are marginalised by society; her work has taken her into prisons, mental health hospitals and alongside the homeless. She currently works in education. She holds a first-class degree in English Literature, in addition to qualifications in creative writing and teaching. As Kate Bradley, she 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 in a small coastal town just outside of Brighton with her husband and sons.
Review
‘The Sisterhood’ is a mix of dystopian and feminist literature that is a tribute to ‘1984’ and is an intriguing and compelling read. This is the first book I have read by this author and what made me pick this one up was the references to Orwell and 1984 as that is one of my favourite books. So a feminist retelling was going to be right up my street. It can be a risk to take such a powerful book and try to make part of it your own and in the main this author manages to do this with the swapping of genders in its protagonist.
In Oceania, Big Brother is always watching you and you can trust no one. Julia comes across as being the perfect citizen but she hides a secret. She is part of ‘The Sisterhood’, an underground movement that is trying to locate their male counterparts ‘The Brotherhood’. When Julia thinks she has located a member of this elusive group things start to fall apart as Julia’s past catches up with her.
Julia was an interesting character that was completely different depending on who she was facing. At times a perfect citizen, privately struggling on so many levels, trying to be a good and loyal friend and also an agent provocateur. She was complex and strong but naive and simple as well. Her best self was with the relationships she formed in The Sisterhood and I was rooting for her as the book progresses and we learn more about her background.
It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the book but when I did I flew through it. I do love feminist retellings but it can he a hard line to master between using too much of the source material and not enough of your own take on it.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
