TERF letter - the novel

[clarabenton]

Just posting this here as I know some of you enjoyed the ‘letter to the woman who called me a TERF’ I wrote a few years ago, and the follow up. I found after writing the first one that I still had a lot to say, so I’ve written a novel about women’s rights.

It’s the story of a woman called Maeve, who’s about to embark on a road trip across Europe with her dreadful husband so she can research an article about violence against women as well as try to fix her marriage - when her daughter calls to say she’s murdered her boyfriend. There are lots of real women’s stories in the book, and Mumsnet most definitely gets a mention! I doubt I’m allowed to post a link but the novel is called Spiked, by Caroline Campbell, and you can pre order on Amazon.

The novel was hard to write as I researched the seemingly endless scope of the awful things men do to women, but there’s a call to action in it too, because I have to believe that we can bring about change. And if that all sounds very dark, I hope there are also parts that will make people smile, with a couple of scenes that are very much Mumsnet inspired!

Congratulations! That's an amazing achievement. I hope you have lots of sales.

Thank you Lovelyview!

I also congratulate you, I have added the novel to my Xmas wish list.

I love reading but would never have the imagination and motivation required to write a book, so well done you!

Thanks Utopia! It’s not out till the end of January, but I hope you can enjoy reading it then.

Well done that woman!
I hope it does really well for you @clarabenton.

Looks interesting, thank you for the advance notice.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DNTGQVRB/

A worthy subject.
Good luck with it!

Sounds interesting. I'll try to remember to buy a copy in January

Do you have a link to your letter and follow up? I'd love to read them!

Yes! Here’s the original letter. I posted it on Mumsnet initially and Fair Play for Women put it on their website.

fairplayforwomen.com/letter-woman-called-terf/

And here is the follow up, published this year.

forwomen.scot/21/09/2024/a-follow-up-letter-to-the-woman-who-called-me-a-terf/

Congratulations!

Love the cover!

Thank you - it’s an image called ‘Angry Woman’. My main character is a VERY angry woman by the end of the novel, so it seemed appropriate!

Sounds good! Well done on writing a novel I've always wanted to, I think it's so inspiring to do that! What a great subject as well. I've felt that sort of rage since what happened to Gisele pelicot. That did it for me. I think I'll need to buy this book, read it then sit in a calm, dark room afterwards so I don't direct any anger at my DH. Or sons! Or dad! I'm surrounded by men irl. All v nice men btw, it's just hard they don't get it really. DH especially.

Thanks INeedAPensieve! I’ve wanted to write a novel about women, and the awfulness of what men do to us, and what we could do about it, for years. Decades, even! I just didn’t have the right story to wrap around the core theme, until it all came to me in a rush lying in bed early one morning and after that I wrote it quite quickly, bringing together all the stories I’d gathered over the years.i hope you enjoy the book. It’s angry, but it’s also hopeful in a world that can feel pretty hopeless.

Well done on that great achievement, clarabenton, and well done for giving your main character the name of the great Queen Maeve

The three 'wedding gifts' Maeve demanded of her husband[s] were:
-the absence of meanness
-the absence of jealousy
-the absence of fear.

Looks like your Maeve needed the same, and from what you say, definitely didn't get them from her husband either!

Good luck with the book, hope it does really well.

Thanks Marie. I think her name really suits her, although she definitely doesn’t get any of the things Queen Maeve wanted from her husband. She gets them from the women in her life, though, as is so often the way.

I love the portrait on the cover!
Who painted it?

It’s by a Dutch artist called Jovan Srijemac. I’m very pleased with the cover - he’s a very talented artist!

Sounds great. I think there would be a lot of interest in more terfy novels. I mean the subject matter covers everything from crime, horror, conspiracy thriller to domestic drama.

There are definitely a lot of non fiction ‘terf’ books but not much fiction. There’s this, a thriller which is very good https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twenty-Murders-Drew-Augustine/dp/B0D55QQ5LP/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=36YIAIYFVQ9FU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SRKPxBiWPDb01n-B44atbQ.dnbnxzVm5puz67n9ONgAWrgG_lKF1UYVJs3rSnwslGA&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+twenty+murders+drew+augustine&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1732527645&sprefix=drew+augustine%2Caps%2C79&sr=8-1

And Christina Dalcher, who is very ‘out’’ now about her views and whose career has sadly suffered as a result - I don’t think any of her books are GC as such but they’re all brilliant feminist reads.

I am slightly nervous about the book coming out wrr to some people in my life reading it - they know my views but seeing them in a published novel might make them more difficult for them to ignore! We’ll see.

they know my views but seeing them in a published novel might make them more difficult for them to ignore! We’ll see

Talking of seeing, they may merely recall the saying, "Prejudice squints when it looks and lies when it talks".

Not really sure what you’re saying here sawdust, but if it’s my first accusation of bigotry then that’s earlier than expected, given the book isn’t even published yet!

Not really sure what you’re saying here sawdust, but if it’s my first accusation of bigotry then that’s earlier than expected, given the book isn’t even published yet!

You did say that you were slightly nervous about the reaction from the people you know and that you had "researched the seemingly endless scope of the awful things men do to women", so I'm guessing it's not an even-handed approach about men - and also guessing that the daughter character you mention had a good reason to kill her boyfriend.