I Who Have Never Known Men

Synopsis

Deep underground, thirty-nine women live together in a locked cage under the constant watch of armed guards. They have no memory of how they arrived there, little sense of time, and only fragments of the lives they once lived. Among them is a fortieth prisoner, a young girl who has never known the world beyond captivity. When an unexpected chance for escape arrives, she leads the women into an unfamiliar landscape where survival demands they confront both freedom and profound uncertainty.

Quiet, haunting, and deeply philosophical, I Who Have Never Known Men is a remarkable novel of endurance, friendship, and what it means to remain human in the face of isolation. Long regarded as a cult classic, Jacqueline Harpman's unforgettable work has become a cornerstone of feminist speculative fiction.

About the Author

Jacqueline Harpman (1929–2012) was a Belgian novelist and psychoanalyst whose work explores memory, identity, desire, and survival. Forced to flee Belgium during the Second World War, her experiences of exile deeply informed her fiction. I Who Have Never Known Men is her best-known novel and is translated from the French by Ros Schwartz.

Publisher
Transit Books

Publication Date
November 14, 2019

Format
Paperback

Pages
208

Subjects
Literary Fiction · Speculative Fiction · Feminist Fiction · Translated Fiction

ISBN
9781945492600