We Were Forbidden

Summary

We Were Forbidden is a collection of three previously untranslated stories exploring defiance, oppression, and the struggle for personal freedom. In The Ardennes Forest, a woman and her fellow survivors wander through a mysterious woodland after an unexplained war, forbidden from leaving its boundaries or stopping their endless march. In The Outcast, a teenage girl attending a French school in 1940s Casablanca is punished for questioning the beliefs and political ideas she is expected to accept. In The Broom Cupboard, a young woman trapped in a loveless marriage begins to question the expectations governing her intimate life and imagine alternatives to her circumstances.

Although the stories unfold in very different settings, each portrays a woman confronting rules imposed by external authorities or social conventions. Through unsettling scenarios, psychological insight, and understated prose, Harpman examines how obedience becomes ingrained and how individuals begin to resist it. The collection explores the tension between conformity and independence, revealing the quiet but powerful ways people challenge the boundaries placed around their lives.