How to Make a Woman by Marie Darrieussecq

Rose and Solange are lifelong friends, growing up together in the Basque region of France in the 1980s. Their paths are intertwined, yet they enter adulthood on radically different footing: Rose, who prizes stability above all else, moves to Bordeaux to study psychology and remains committed to her childhood sweetheart, Christian; rebellious Solange shakes off her old connections and moves from Bordeaux to Paris to London in pursuit of a life on the stage. In How to Make a Woman, we follow the young women’s experiences of adolescence, love, sex, work and motherhood, as they negotiate their places in the world and find their own versions of fulfilment.

Written with humour and heart, Marie Darrieussecq’s latest novel is an electrifying, sometimes brutal portrait of female friendship and of two identities under construction, by ‘one of the most original voices in contemporary French literature’ (Times Literary Supplement).

Format:Paperback / softback 256 pages
Publisher:Fitzcarraldo Editions
Imprint:Fitzcarraldo Editions
ISBN:9781804272695
Published:13 Aug 2026
Classifications:Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Fiction in translation
Weight:260g