A Haunting Novel Of Captivity And Existence
Jacqueline Harpman strips the story back to something stark and unsettling, which only makes its ideas hit harder. Part dystopian mystery and part philosophical reflection, it lingers long after the final page.
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I Who Have Never Known Men
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A Haunting Novel Of Captivity And Existence
Jacqueline Harpman strips the story back to something stark and unsettling, which only makes its ideas hit harder. Part dystopian mystery and part philosophical reflection, it lingers long after the final page.
- Book Synopsis
-
Ideal for readers who:
- Enjoy literary dystopian fiction that asks unsettling questions
- Are curious about forty women imprisoned underground with almost no memory of the world above
- Enjoy a stark post-apocalyptic landscape shaped by confinement and uncertainty
- Want a haunting, spare and deeply thought-provoking read
Jacqueline Harpman strips the story back to something stark and unsettling, which only makes its ideas hit harder. Part dystopian mystery and part philosophical reflection, it lingers long after the final page.
Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus? Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before.
But, as the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl — the fortieth prisoner — sits alone, an outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.
Discover the reader obsession of 2025 with a new introduction by Sophie Mackintosh, Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Water Cure.
- About The Author
- Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium in 1929. Being half Jewish, the family fled to Casablanca when the Nazis invaded, and only returned home after the war. After studying French literature she started training to be a doctor, but could not complete her training due to contracting tuberculosis. She turned to writing in 1954 and her first work was published in 1958. In 1980 she qualified as a psychoanalyst. Harpman wrote over 15 novels and won numerous literary prizes, including the Prix Médicis for Orlanda. I Who Have Never Known Men was her first novel to be translated into English, and was originally published with the title The Mistress of Silence
- Product Details
-
- ISBN
- 9781529111798
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Vintage, (02 May 2019)
- Number of Pages
- 208
- Weight
- 144 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 197 x 128 x 14 mm
- Series:
- See all books in this series
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