I finished I Who Have Never Known Men several nights ago, and it’s still rattling around in my brain. It’s a superb example of feminist speculative fiction and a reflection on humanity itself. This short, 175-page read delves deeply into the human condition and what makes us human. The prose is taut, every detail necessary. A joy to read, though haunting enough to stay in your brain and heart for a long time.
Narrated by an unnamed female, I Who Have Never Known Men is the story of thirty-nine women and one child (the narrator) who are held in an underground cage after a never-fully-described apocalyptic event. Guarded by men armed with whips, the woman have no idea why they are prisoners or even where they are or what happened to the men in their former world. They are provided with food and clothing, but little else. The women are not allowed to touch each other though they can converse with each other. Apparently picked by mistake, the child, unlike the women, has no memories of life before the cage and grows up entirely without physical contact.
One day their guards disappear, leaving the key to the cage in its lock. The captives escape but spend the remainder of their existence wandering an unknown land. The child, now a teenager, slowly comes to realize that, as the youngest, she will someday live the remainder of her life in solitude.
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I Who Have Never Known Men (Transit Books, May 10, 2022) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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