The Women's Room
A Novel
The twenty-one-million copy bestselling novel and provocative feminist classic that changed the world when it was first published in 1977
“With The Women’s Room, Marilyn French joined Simone de Beauvoir, Ralph Ellison, and that very small group of writers whose words spark a movement.” —Gloria Steinem
In the 1950s, many American women left education and professional advancement behind in order to marry, only to find themselves adrift and unable to support themselves after divorcing their husbands twenty years later. Some became destitute; a few went insane. But many went back to school in the heyday of the Women’s Liberation movement, and were swept up in the promise of equality for both sexes.
The Women’s Room tells the story of one…
Marilyn French (1929–2009) received her doctorate from Harvard University in 1972. She was a literary critic, and her articles and stories appeared in a wide range of journals and anthologies. French is the author of several books, including The War Against Women and the novel The Women's Room, which has sold more than 21 million copies since it was first published in 1977. She taught at Hofstra, Harvard, and the College of the Holy Cross, and received a Harvard Centennial Medal.