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Jan 18, 2026 9:24 AM

Author:Yevgeny Zamyatin,Will Self,Natasha Randall

We

As relevant today as when it was first published, We is the first modern dystopian novel which inspired both Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World.

The citizens of the One State live in a condition of 'mathematically infallible happiness'. D-503 decides to keep a diary of his days working for the collective good in this clean, blue city state where nature, privacy and individual liberty have been eradicated. But over the course of his journal D-503 suddenly finds himself caught up in unthinkable and illegal activities - love and rebellion.

Banned on its publication in Russia in 1921, We is the first modern dystopian novel and a satire on state control that has once again become chillingly relevant.

Reviews

This is a book to look out for

—— George Orwell

Zamyatin reminds us, Adam did not wish to be happy, he wished to be "free"

—— Anthony Burgess

Precursor to much more famous works by Huxley and Orwell, this antidote to totalitarianism, written by someone who genuinely knew what that sort of existence was like, is the anti-Stalinist dystopia to beat them all - even Brave New World, 1984, and Koestler's Darkness at Noon

—— Toby Green

Two of the most iconic novels in the English language - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell - owe an enormous debt to Zamyatin. We is the ur-text of science-fiction dystopias...the product of a powerful imagination

—— Wall Street Journal

One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century

—— Irving Howe

Zamyatin's dystopic novel left an indelible watermark on 20th-century culture, from Orwell's 1984 to Terry Gilliam's movie Brazil.Randall's exciting new translation strips away the Cold War connotations and makes us conscious of Zamyatin's other influences, from Dostoyevski to German expressionism

—— Publishers Weekly

The best single work of science fiction yet written

—— Ursula Le Guin

A syncretic, wildly imaginative text...a passionately literary work. This book reads like nothing else on earth before or since

—— Bruce Sterling

'We was a prophetic book not because Zamyatin gazed into a crystal ball but because he saw the likely consequences of what people were thinking in the first years of the Soviet Union. That is why we think Zamyatin, Huxley and Orwell better than the science fiction writers - because they trace conditions back to sources in the mind

—— Clive James , New York Review of Books

The travel writer's wanderlust generated bestselling and Booker-nominated work, but his collected letters unveil the man behind the books

—— Times

These letters are as close to the real McCoy as we're going to get - not least because he sloughs off the confident, self-possessed persona exhibited in his books and allows his vulnerabilities to show

—— Alastair Mabbott , Herald

'[a] page turner...a series of profound, and mystifying, stories within a stoy that will confound and delight...Another confirmed bestseller

—— News of the World

Eighteen years on from Generation X, Coupland still satirises pop culture better than anyone. This globe-spanning tale, set in the near future, is masterfully told and often hilarious

—— GQ

With this exceptional sequel to Generation X, Douglas Coupland may be one of the smartest, wittiest writers around . . . He is a terrifically good writer . . . Generation A is set in the near future . . . Bees have become extinct, but then five people are stung . . . It is the attempt to get to the bottom of this mystery that brings the five together on an Alaskan island where they are made to tell stories to one another. Coupland weaves common elements across these tales and into the main narrative: large themes . . . comic themes . . . existential themes . . . There is a compelling plot . . . Coupland scatters his smartly satirical observations throughout . . . This is a clever, brilliant book - and it's loads better than Generation X . . . funny and profound . . . Straight A . . . (Coupland) deserves top marks for his latest novel

—— Esquire

Coupland is a master at creating eccentric, lonely characters and illuminating the mundaneness of dull lives in our celebrity-obsessed, technology-driven world . . . Ideas bounce of his writing like sparks off a live electrical wire

—— The Scotsman

[A] tour-de-force myth of the near future . . . As ever, the writing is sharp and witty, displaying Coupland's keen eye for cultural trends and an awareness of the ever-expanding limits of technological advancement

—— Q

Highly recommended. Like Murakami in thriller-trope mode. Go for it

—— William Gibson, author of Virtual Light

Ambitious and weird . . . genuinely experimental

—— Scotland on Sunday

Unusual circumstances ensue in this latest read from the brilliant social commentator

—— Elle

Coupland is a smart, witty writer . . . A delight

—— London Lite

Coupland juggles some fascinating ideas . . . Equal parts humor and revelation...An intelligent look at pop and digital culture

—— Publishers Weekly

From the very first pages it jumps out: the language, the preoccupations, the political and technological references, the humour - they're all so now . . . Scintillating . . . I must admit I read the novel enviously. Oh, to have written something so clever, funny, heartfelt and original . . . The narration is layered, there are passages that are very funny, others that are wise, and throughout the language crackles with vitality . . . In the future, if people are curious about what it was like to live in our times, in the early 21st century, they will do well to read Douglas Coupland

—— Yann Martell

Superbly entertaining stuff. Coupland's dialogue is witty and spiky and makes you laugh out loud . . . Coupland just can't resist making his characters as smart as he is, which is very smart indeed. He's one of the few writers who has really grasped what different times we live in . . . But Coupland's personality as a writer isn't just smart, it is also charming humane and fundamentally optimistic. A pure pleasure

—— Independent on Sunday

A delightful Decameron of a book . . . rich, educative and even consoling

—— Independent

One of the most popular serious writers of our time

—— Aravind Adiga , Financial Times
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