We Were Forbidden
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We Were Forbidden
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 directedβuntil 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.
Series: Brief Encounters
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INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529984583
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 02 July 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Contributors:
- Translated by Ros Schwartz
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 8.0mm
Width: 131.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 84g
Pages: 96
About the Author
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.
Also by Jacqueline Harpman
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