Women Talking - Miriam Toews

Drama

Rating: 8.5/10

“Isn’t it interesting, she says, that the one and only request the women would make of the men would be to leave?”.

This is just one of many questions the women of this novel ponder as they gather for talking. It might be believed that a group of Mennonite women don’t have much to talk about. That would be wrong. They are the keepers of the secrets in their close knit and closed off communities. And, as with other similar types of communities where women are not considered equal, its assumed that because they do not tend to talk, that they cannot hear. Wrong again.

Based on real events, which only makes this story that much more terrifying to consider, this follows a group of women who have to make a choice in their path forward after a horrific wrong is done to them.

Footnote: This is a beautifully and powerfully written novel that is ultimately about hope and bravery.