Jacqueline Harpman

Sellissä maan alla elää vankeina 39 naista ja tyttö. Heitä valvovat puhumattomat miesvartijat. Kukaan naisista ei tiedä, miksi heidät on vangittu, missä he ovat tai kuinka kauan he ovat olleet siellä. Mutta muilla naisilla on nimi, muistoja ja menneisyys; nimetön tyttö ei tiedä mitään elämästä sellin ulkopuolella. Sähkövalo vuoroin voimistuu ja himmenee, aika kuluu. Tyttö kasvaa nuoreksi naiseksi ja alkaa ajatella. En ole koskaan tuntenut miehiä on poikkeuksellinen kirjallinen helmi 1990-luvulta, eleetön dystopia, joka jää kaihertamaan mieltä pitkäksi aikaa lukemisen jälkeen. Teoksen englanninnos I Who Have Never Known Men on viime vuosina noussut uuteen suosioon Tiktokin ansiosta. Kirjan on suomentanut ranskasta Nana Sironen. Jacqueline Harpman (1929-2012) oli belgialainen kirjailija ja psykoanalyytikko. Hän eli lapsuutensa maanpaossa, kun puoliksi juutalainen perhe pakeni toista maailmansotaa Casablancaan. Harpman kirjoitti yli 15 romaania ja voitti lukuisia kirjallisuuspalkintoja.

The groundbreaking novel about a woman whose subconscious mind splinters and finds itself in the body of a young man, from the author of I Who Have Never Known Men. Now in paperback with a new foreword by Isle McElroy for the 30th anniversary of its original publication. One afternoon in a caf across the Gare du Nord train station in Paris, Aline Berger, a literature professor, struggles to re-read Virginia Woolf's Orlando, when an odd feeling comes over her. Suddenly, part of her consciousness splits off and finds itself in the body of an attractive young man named Lucien L frene, who works as a rock journalist. In this newfound body, Aline's splintered mind names themselves Orlanda in homage to Virginia Woolf as a woman who has now become a man. Orlanda begins to follow Aline. And when the two meet again in Belgium, Aline subconsciously sheds her prim tendencies for a more assertive presence, as she begins to understand that Orlanda was born from her own psyche. Orlanda is the assertive, confident, and amorous person, who loves men unabashedly, that Aline has always aspired to be but could never become. The more time the two spend together, the less time they can stand to be apart. This lyrical novel is a stunning portrait of a woman who is forced to confront every part of her soul and embrace herself fully.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF TIKTOK SENSATION I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MENThere’s a voice in Aline’s head: a voice that wants out. Brash, boisterous and sexually adventurous, this voice seems to be the antithesis of Aline, a prim literature professor for whom each day promises to be as quiet and conventional as the last. That is until, after thirty-five years of imprisonment, her alter ego breaks free. Taking on a life of his own, Orlanda – Aline’s second self – slips into the taut, rugged body of a young man. As Aline continues unaware, Orlanda follows, dragging gleeful chaos in his wake, vowing to leave both their existences forever altered. A bewitching fable, an androgynous dream, Orlanda is one woman’s reckoning with all the hidden sides of her soul.'Imagination. Jacqueline Harpman certainly doesn't lack any. . . . With incredible mastery, she juggles with identities, intertwines desires and fears, fantasies and frustrations.' –L'Express

Kort beskrivning av romanen (baksidestext)Bli en annan. Leva genom en annan identitet, en annan kropp, äventyr, passioner, förbjudna lustar ... den här drömmen som kanske de flesta av oss någon gång har haft gör Aline, en ung universitetslärare med ett (alltför) välordnat liv, till verklighet när hon av en slump får syn på den unge snygge Lucien. Och det omöjliga äger rum: en del av henne, hennes maskulina sida, överger hennes kvinnokropp för den unge, vackre främlingen. Hon blir Lucien och Aline. Författaren döper den nya karaktären till Orlanda. Vi får sen följa hur Aline dras med, som vittne och aktris, i en karusell av äventyr och situationer, ömsom berusande ömsom lustiga, där hennes hemliga lustar så småningom kommer att avslöjas ... Kort om Jacqueline HarpmanJacqueline Harpman (1929–2012), populär och välkänd fransk-belgisk författare till ett trettiotal romaner, novellsamlingar och dramer. Utbildad och praktiserande psykoanalytiker med ett antal publicerade artiklar i Revue Belge de Psychanalyse. Uppvuxen i Bryssel och Casablanca. För romanen Orlanda tilldelades hon 1996 det prestigefulla Prix Medicis. Kort om Bokförlaget LimoaLimoa är ett bokförlag som specialiserar sig på franskspråkig litteratur i svensk översättning. Fokus ligger framförallt på ”la francophonie” det vill säga litteratur skriven på franska men med sitt ursprung utanför den franska metropolen. Jacqueline Harpmans Orlanda (1996), en replik på Virginia Woolfs berömda roman Orlando, är den första roman som Limoa ger ut. Förlaget har sitt kontor i Stockholm och grundades 2019 av Maria Snårelid, doktor i franska. Förlagets namn är hämtat från den fonetiska transkriptionen av “Lis-moi”, vilket betyder “Läs mig”.

"A magical novel on the theme of androgyny. Funny, subtle, poignant..." - Nadine Sautel, Magazine littéraire"Jacqueline Harpman drags us into one of those sexual phantasmagorias that are her own secret. She displays incredible confidence in juggling identities and meshing together yearnings and phobias, fantasies and frustrations" - T G, L'ExpressHow would it be to jump into the skin of another? To be both a man and a woman at once? And what would happen if you found yourself attracted to yourself? Beneath a mousy exterior, 35-year-old college lecturer Aline seethes with frustration. Sick of being bullied by her mother and treated like a piece of furniture by Albert, her live-in lover, one day Aline leaps from her own skin into the far more attractive body of Lucien, whom she spots in a café at the Gare du Nord. From here this brilliantly imaginative story runs on parallel lines. While Aline sensibly catches the train back to her orderly life, Aline-Lucien - or Orlanda, as her bold new composite self is called in homage to Virginia Woolf - follows, dragging chaos in his wake. Jacqueline Harpman, herself once a psychoanalyst, revels in the confusion, as ego falls for alter ego and mothers, sisters and lovers begin to ask awkward questions in this unusual perceptive comedy of double selves and bisexuality." Undoubtedly this is a novel to breathe life into characters through the unfettered use of the imagination. It offers a pretext for a great deal of humour and fantasy that stirs up the old myths' - André Brincourt, FigaroWinner of the Prix Médicis.

A forthcoming Vintage Classics publication brought to you by Penguin Random House, on sale July 2026

«Et lite mirakel» New York TimesJacqueline Harpmans dystopiske roman fra 1995 har blitt en moderne klassiker og et verdensomspennende fenomen som begeistrer en ny generasjon lesere. Nå utgis den for første gang på norsk. Dypt under jorden holdes trettini kvinner fanget i en bunker. Kvinnene husker ikke hvordan de havnet der eller hva som har skjedd med verden utenfor, og de har bare vage minner om livet de en gang levde. I et hjørne sitter den førtiende fangen, en ung jente, og betrakter de andre. Hun er den eneste av kvinnene som ikke kjenner en hverdag utenfor fangenskap, men da en tilfeldighet gir dem en mulighet til å flykte, er det nettopp hennes nysgjerrighet, vitebegjær og pågangsmot som blir nøkkelen til gruppens overlevelse. Jeg som aldri har kjent menn er en oppsiktsvekkende og fascinerende roman om menneskets evne til å stille spørsmål og søke svar - og en universell fortelling om å oppleve alt for første gang.

SISTERHOOD. SECRETS. SURVIVAL. Discover the haunting, heart-breaking post-apocalyptic TikTok sensation, now available in a beautiful hardback gift edition. Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus? Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. But, as the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the fortieth prisoner - sits alone an 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. The woman who will never know men. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, BOOKER PRIZE-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE WATER CURE**Orlanda, the next sensation from Jacquline Harpman, is available this July 2025**

“Under mycket lång tid var den ena dagen på pricken lik den andra, men så började jag tänka och allt förändrades.” Djupt nere under marken sitter trettionio kvinnor fängslade i en bur. Kvinnorna övervakas av beväpnade vakter och har ingen aning om hur de hamnat där. De har inget grepp om tiden och endast vaga minnesbilder av hur livet såg ut innan. I ett hörn sitter den fyrtionde fången, en ung flicka, och prövar sina tankar. Hon är utstött från de andras gemenskap. Men när slumpen ger kvinnorna en chans att fly ska hon visa sig vara nyckeln till gruppens överlevnad.

SISTERHOOD. SECRETS. SURVIVAL. Discover the haunting, heart-breaking post-apocalyptic TikTok sensation. Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus? Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. But, as the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the fortieth prisoner - sits alone an 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. The woman who will never know men. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, BOOKER PRIZE-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE WATER CURE**Orlanda, the next sensation from Jacquline Harpman, is available this July 2025**

Ursula K. LeGuin meets The Road in a post-apocalyptic modern classic of female friendship and intimacy. 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. 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. 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 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, Harpman's modern classic is an important addition to the growing canon of feminist speculative literature.

Discover the haunting, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic tale of female friendship and intimacy set in a deserted world. Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage.

"Med en gang jeg så ham, visste jeg at Léopold Wiesbeck skulle tilhøre meg. Jeg var elleve år gammel, han var femogtyve. Mor sa: Dette er min datter Émilienne. Han strålte. Han var sol på vannet, en diamant i lyset, skjønnheten selv som så på meg uten å se meg. Jeg leste livet mitt i ansiktet hans. Han hadde grå øyne som en sjø om vinteren, når alt er blitt til is, svart og velstelt hår, og denne bleke huden, den melkeaktige hvitheten som bare tilhører helter som skjebnen har valgt ut. Smilet hans gjennomboret meg, det var morgengryet, når den første sol.stråle plutselig farer gjennom natten og river landskapet bort fra skyggen. Jeg steg ut av barndommen. Fra det ene øyeblikket til det andre ble jeg kvinne med tusen års erfaring. Et jordskjelv rystet min flate, før-pubertale mage, sjelen min ble transformert, jeg følte hele mitt vesen samle seg og ånde denne mannen slik man fyller lungene med luft." Aldersforskjellen gjør at Émilienne må vente. Den utvalgte gifter seg til penger, for å kunne utvikle seg som maler. Gjennombruddet hans kommer med utstillingen der maleriet Ostende strand stilles ut, og han blir framgangsrik og berømt. Émilienne går kynisk til verks: En ektefelle er lett å utmanøvrere, det er vanskeligere med andre kvinner: Laurette, Georgette... Émilienne begir seg ut på en livsreise som gir henne den hun elsker, og fører henne til Detroit, til Reykjavik, til finsk Lappland - men som det meste av tiden holder henne godt fast i et solid belgisk etterkrigsborgerskap. Et kvinneportrett, men også et portrett av en kunster og hans vei til suksess. Og av et borgerlig miljø, et land og en by - Brussel - vi egentlig ikke vet så mye om.