Feminism?

After reading an early draft of the book, a friend asked me: ‘Where is your feminism? I can’t believe it, Françoise knits!’ I protested that, without nailing a feminist manifesto to its masthead, the plot turns on an illegal abortion, discovered by Saxo, the piglet. For William, the piglet’s find signifies his ambivalence towards the place and its attachment to a regime of unaccountable dignitaries and feminine superstition. Should ex-pats intervene against locals? For Marianne, the school teacher, the exposure undermines the respect due to her ageing godmother. And for Françoise, it symbolises a pro-women agenda: women should help each other, particularly if let down by the law. Striving for self-definition, full of moral ambiguities, it is her energy that drives the novel forward. The tempo, leisurely at first, speeds up.