The Chain

£10.99

In January 2017, Chimene Suleyman was on her way to an abortion clinic in Queens, New York with her boyfriend, the father of her nascent child. It was the last day they would spend together. In an extraordinary sequence of events, Chimene was to discover the truth of her boyfriend’s life: that she and many other women had been subtly, patiently and painfully betrayed. In this spellbinding memoir, she exposes one man’s control over many women and the trauma he left behind, and celebrates the sisterhood that formed in his wake despite – and in spite of – him. Exploring how women are duped every day by individuals, she interrogates how society itself continually allows this to happen. She demonstrates that, no matter how intelligent, educated or self-aware they might be, over time a woman can be played into performing the age-old role of giver and nurturer: self-sacrificing and subordinate.

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SKU: 9781399606486 Category: Tags: , , , , Publisher/imprint : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page count : 240
Published on 4th September, 2025

Description

‘A powerful tribute to female solidarity that you won’t be able to stop thinking about’ GLAMOUR
‘An ode to how women support, protect and uphold each other in a misogynistic world. Read then pass it on’ SYTLIST
‘Took my breath away from the first page and did not let go of me till the very last’ NIKITA GILL

‘There is no singular experience of womanhood and we create the chain to remind ourselves of this. We stand beside each other in such a way that we may say, Tell me your story as a woman, and yours, and yours, and yours . . .’

One cold January day, Chimene Suleyman walks out of an abortion clinic to find her boyfriend has vanished. Later she watches as her building’s CCTV shows him calmly removing his belongings from her home, erasing himself from the life he has destroyed. Then she discovers he has done this before. But this is not his story. Told with breathtaking clarity and tenderness, The Chain is a love letter to the sisterhood that formed despite (and in spite of) a man who deceived dozens of women. Suleyman shows us just how fiercely women shelter and strengthen one another in a society that asks them to sacrifice themselves for men.

Additional information

Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 cm
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