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I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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I Who Have Never Known Men

by Jacqueline Harpman

Narrator Nikki Massoud

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Length 6 hours 10 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“Don't be fooled by the short length; I Who Have Never Known Men is an expose about what it means to be human, particularly female. Often absurd, yet full of touching moments, this book will be sure to please and even devastate at the same time. ”
— Claire • Mostly Books

Bookseller recommendation

“What does it mean to be “human”—what is “humanity” when all we’ve used to define it is stripped away or was never there at all? Maybe that sounds trite, but no! This was a beautiful, isolating, and unexpectedly tender story that will stay with me for a long time and has become a new personal favorite. I’d especially recommend this to fans of Margaret Atwood or Octavia Butler! (Also, come on, what an incredible title)”
— Sydni • More Than Words

Bookseller recommendation

“Wow, what a novel. The narrator was a teenager when she was added to 39 other females in an underground bunker. No one knows how they got there or why. This book is a puzzle that can't really be solved because we don't know why the women were imprisoned or even where they are - Earth? Maybe not as our narrator surmised. These women triumphed over the cruelty they suffered at the hands of men ultimately regaining their humanity and experienced joy, love, compassion and the companionship of each other. No men needed. Wonderful novel.”
— Marya • Out West Books

#8 in Bestselling Apocalyptic & Dystopian Audiobooks

Summary

Deep underground, 39 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.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl—the 40th 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.

Informed by her background as a psychoanalyst and her youth in exile, I Who Have Never Known Men 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, Jacqueline Harpman’s modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

This audio edition of I Who Have Never Known Men is expertly read by Nikki Massoud, a listener favorite. Produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont. ©1997, 2019 Ros Schwartz.

Fiction Apocalyptic & Dystopian Fiction - Literary