Post by @federicabalbi

One of the men was caught red-handed, so the women are talking. It’s the first time in their lives that they take the agency to gather and react. For four years, between 2005 and 2009, women and girls of the Mennonite colony have been knocked unconscious with belladonna spray and raped by the men of their own colony, all of them closely or loosely related to them. 

After Salome tries to kill one of the men, the men are brought to the city for trial for their own protection. They are to come back in two days, and this is the amount of time the women have to decide what to do: do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. 

In her limpid novel, Miriam Toews imagines what happens as a consequence of the factual attacks of the serial rapists. She provides a convincing depiction of the Mennonite lifestyle and their strict behavioural rules. In these communities, women are not allowed to learn how to read and write and are relegated to the roles of childcare, farming and quilting. 

The women are talking, and August Epp is writing. His parents and him had been excommunicated from the colony when he was young and he has just come back. He is not considered to be a threat, and his writing mediates between the world of the Mennonite women and ours. His naive understanding is what allows the narrative not to get stuck in a tragic mode, but to focus on the discussions, on the present and the future. 

Along with him, we witness the rise of a social consciousness in the group of women. Those of them who could treasure some lessons lead the discussion. Among them is Ona, the childhood friend and dishonoured spinster August looks up to. 

One of the strengths of this novel lies in the development of the women’s discussions. Starting from stylised drawings, they awaken to political positions. When logic is too hard to grasp, a laugh can be the unifying factor that helps them move forward.