“My marriage lasted exactly nine days, making waves in our tiny riverine country and setting me adrift for the rest of my life”
Welcome to your December read, On A Woman’s Madness, by Astrid Roemer, translated by Lucy Scott.
In this vivid novel, we meet Noenka, a woman who dares to reject the roles imposed on her—as a wife, a mother, a compliant member of society. Roemer unflinchingly explores the complexity of a woman’s struggle for freedom against a backdrop of 20th-century Suriname, a place where history, identity, and personal autonomy collide. The writing is raw and tender in equal measure, illuminating both the beauty and the pain of choosing a life on one’s own terms.
Astrid Roemer, a literary icon and the first Surinamese writer to receive the prestigious Dutch Literature Prize, crafts a narrative that speaks to all of us who have ever felt the weight of expectations, and to those who seek stories of resilience and liberation.