How to Make a Woman - Pre order

Synopsis

Beginning in a small village in the French Basque Country during the 1980s, How to Make a Woman follows the intertwined lives of Rose and Solange, two childhood friends whose paths diverge as they enter adulthood. At fifteen, Solange is unexpectedly pregnant while Rose leaves for university in Bordeaux, where questions of love, identity, and desire begin to reshape her life. As the years unfold across Bordeaux, Paris, and London, the two women drift together and apart, each profoundly shaping the other's understanding of herself.

Bold, uncompromising, and emotionally incisive, Marie Darrieussecq's novel examines friendship, sexuality, motherhood, ambition, and the forces that shape women's lives. Both intimate and expansive, How to Make a Woman is a powerful coming-of-age story from one of France's most celebrated contemporary writers.

About the Author

Marie Darrieussecq is an award-winning French novelist, essayist, and translator whose work has been translated into more than thirty languages. Renowned for her psychologically astute and formally inventive fiction, she is the author of numerous acclaimed novels, including Pig Tales and Our Life in the Forest. How to Make a Woman is translated into English by Penny Hueston.

Publisher
Astra House

Publication Date
September 23, 2025

Format
Paperback

Pages
304

Subjects
Literary Fiction · Translated Fiction · French Literature · Coming-of-Age · Feminist Fiction

ISBN
9798893380705