Embark on a BRIEF ENCOUNTER with Jacqueline Harpman, author of I Who Have Never Known Men, with this startling new collection of three never-before-translated stories, about orders given and defied. A startling new collection of three never-before-translated stories, from the author of I Who Have Never Known Men In the wake of some unfathomable war, a woman wanders the forest, forbidden from ever leaving its strange depths. As part of her rigid schooling, a teenage girl is barred from questioning the dogma she is taught to believe. Locked in a loveless marriage, a young woman satisfies her husband's desires, twice-weekly, as directed - until she begins to pursue her own. Includes the stories: The Ardennes Forest, The Outcast and The Broom Cupboard BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Details

ISBN13: 9781529984583
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 96
Edition:
Publication Date: 20 Oct 2026
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.7(H)x13(L)x0.9(W)89
Weight (gm): 89

Author Biography

Jacqueline Harpman (Author) Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium in 1929. Being half Jewish, the family fled to Casablanca when the Nazis invaded, and only returned home after the war. After studying French literature she started training to be a doctor, but could not complete her training due to contracting tuberculosis. She turned to writing in 1954 and her first work was published in 1958. In 1980 she qualified as a psychoanalyst. Harpman wrote over 15 novels and won numerous literary prizes, including the Prix Medicis for Orlanda. I Who Have Never Known Men was her first novel to be translated into English, and was originally published with the title The Mistress of Silence Ros Schwartz (Translator) Ros Schwartz is an award-winning translator from French. Acclaimed for her new version of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, published in 2010, she has over 100 fiction and non-fiction titles to her name. The French government made Ros a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009, and in 2017 she was awarded the Institute of Translation and Interpreting's John Sykes Memorial Prize for Excellence.

Reviews

Dystopian literary surrealism from a master who’s belatedly getting her due. * New York Times Book Review *
Another stunning missive from Harpman’s repertoire… Renewed interest in Harpman’s oeuvre isn’t just warranted: In works like this, she reveals herself to be one of the major writers of the 20th century, comparable to Gogol and Kafka but with a style and outlook entirely her own * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *
These tales showcase a new side of Harpman’s prose... Full of nuance and spite, and true to Harpman’s beloved style * Booklist *
In Harpman’s desperate, ornery, and alien universes, her avatars write their memoirs for no one at all. It is a desolate prospect, but also a triumph. -- Jessi Jezewska Stevens