The imagery of Lenina in her promiscuous outfit in that scene would hardly be considered anything much today, but nearly a century ago it was shocking and iconic. Keep in mind this book was written before the pill was rolled out to the mass market, contraception methods were considered taboo, a female’s role was still seen as that of a child bearer. I got onto the infamous bit where the main female protagonist, Lenina, is dolled up for her date, sporting a brand new belt which is furnished with a multitude of contraceptive slots. I pushed through the remaining forewords, which were much drier, and finally got onto the story itself, only to have a strange feeling of having read it before. I recommend reading this particular forward as much as the book itself.

It was a snappy, engaging essay, which drummed up much excitement in me to get started with the book, and provided a gripping, if brief, analysis of the main themes in Brave New World and dystopian literature as a whole. The novel itself is not large, this specific edition was further bulked up by a few forewords, one of which, I was pleasantly surprised, was written by Margaret Atwood, most famous for her novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which we will be reviewing later this year. It got me to remember the initial hype that 3D was, and its following falling out of fashion, and I had to give a little chuckle to myself, as I hadn’t realised it had permeated as far as designs for book covers! The artwork on the cover had the signature red-blue colouring intended to be looked through the pair of glasses provided.

It came with a quirky set of 3D glasses – one eye cover red plastic, the other blue. As part of the extensive Christmas hamper Nelly sent me last year, I got two of the books we have for this year’s challenge, one of them being Brave New World.

Brave new world book covers