How a '90s Belgian sci-fi novel found success on TikTok

The Cut’s Emily Gould talks about the sudden popularity of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Image | I Who Have Never Known Men

Caption: Copies of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. (Penguin Random House)

A book that was relatively obscure until recently has now become a bestseller thanks to TikTok.
It's a translation of I Who Have Never Known Men, a 1995 novel by Belgian author Jacqueline Harpman.
Originally written in French, the dystopian novel is under 200 pages long. It went from selling two or three copies a year in the U.K., to over 150,000 in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. in the last year.
Today on Commotion, The Cut's Emily Gould tells host Elamin Abdelmahmoud about the sudden popularity of I Who Have Never Known Men.
WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube (this segment begins at 14:28):

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You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen(external link) or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts(external link).

Interview with Emily Gould produced by Jane van Koeverden.

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