Cover of I Who Have Never Known Men

I Who Have Never Known Men

by Jacqueline Harpman, Ros Schwartz

4.2
(495 ratings)
208 pages37 editions2022Transit BooksISBN 9781945492600

About this book

<p><b>Ursula K. LeGuin meets <i>The Road</i> in a post-apocalyptic modern classic of female friendship and intimacy.</b></p><p>Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only a vague recollection of their lives before.</p> <p><p>As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl--the fortieth prisoner--sits alone and 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.</p> <p><p>Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929, and fled to Casablanca with her family during WWII. Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, <i>I Who Have Never Known Men</i> is a haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel of female friendship and intimacy, and the lengths people will go to maintain their humanity in the face of devastation. Back in print for the first time since 1997, Harpman's modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.</p>

Publication Details

Publisher
Transit Books
Published
2022
Pages
208
ISBN
9781945492600
Language
en
Editions
37

Community Reviews

capope★★★★★3/19/2026

<div>I’m not someone who struggles to give out five stars to a book I enjoy. In my mind, five stars can mean a lot of different things. For this book, it means ‘Wow’ and ‘I can’t wait to read this again.’ The afterword says this is a book that doesn’t reveal its secrets, even upon rereading, but I feel like I have to try. I know for a fact I didn’t catch every meaningful detail or phrase, so I look forward to the next time I pick it up off my shelf.</div>

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