SIGNED BOOKPLATE EDITION

How to Make a Woman, by Marie Darrieussecq (Author), Penny Hueston (Translator).

Format: Paperback

Set against the backdrop of the final decades of the twentieth century—from the 1980s Basque countryside and the AIDS epidemic to the end of history—How to Make a Woman follows two lifelong friends, Rose and Solange, from adolescence into adulthood.

An electrifying double narrative, the novel first follows Rose and then Solange before bringing them back together years later. Rose values stability, studying psychology in Bordeaux and maintaining an equivocal relationship with her childhood sweetheart. Solange, rebellious and self-directed, becomes pregnant at fifteen before pursuing a career on the stage through Paris, London and Hollywood.

Drawing on the idea that one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman, Marie Darrieussecq explores female identity, friendship, class and chance with prose that is relentless, funny, brutal and mischievous.