I Who Have Never Known Men
Thirty-nine women wake in an underground cage with no memory of arriving, and one child among them.
Jacqueline Harpman’s novel is narrated by the youngest prisoner, a girl who has never known the world above and has no memory of men. The guards never explain anything. When circumstances change and the women get out, the book becomes something far stranger than a prison story. First published in French in 1995 and rediscovered decades later.
Recommended by 2 People
Slavoj Žižek
Perhaps even darker is this novel about a girl and 39 women held prisoner in a bunker. When the male guards flee, the captives emerge into a barren plain, and the girl, the last to survive, writes about her life. Existentially, I feel like the girl: Even in a crowd, I am totally alone. My words will probably never reach their addressee, someone who will read them properly.
Source · May 2026
Tyler Cowen
Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Never Known Men. I enjoyed this novel: “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.”
Source · June 2025
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.