"Women Talking" gives control of the story to survivors

The new novel Women Talking is based on a real-life horror story concerning sexual violence.

Author Miriam Toews, who herself was raised in a conservative Mennonite community, has taken a sexual assault epidemic in a remote Mennonite colony in Bolivia as the opening to the novel.

But rather than fictionalize the drugging and rapes that took place, Toews gives the survivors control — they are holding a joint meeting to process what has happened and decide what happens next.

Listen to her discussion of Women Talking below or read a transcript of her interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro on NPR’s website.