The Movement

A speculative novel, dystopian for some (men!), utopian for others (women!) Takes the consequences of the Me-Too movement to the extreme. The novel is set in the near future, when "the Movement" has emerged victorious and created a new society run by women, based on an ideology that emphasizes that women should be valued for their inner qualities, rather than their physical attributes. To cement its position, the Movement has established a network of institutes where men undergo an intensive reeducation program, designed to eradicate the ideas of male dominance and the sexual objectification of young women. Written from the perspective of an unapologetic guard in a re-education center. The feminist answer to The Handmaid's Tale, especially in this moment when Atwood's novel is undergoing a new wave of interest as a feminist landmark that speaks to the politics of today. The larger question that drove Petra to write this novel was, as she put it in one interview, was "whether anyone in history has ever given up their power voluntarily, whether it's even possible for something like that to take place without either actual or symbolic violence." Petra Hulova is one of the most distinctive and outspoken Czech writers of her generation and her work has been translated into German, Polish, French, Italian and English and published in the US. Her 2009 novel All This Belongs to Me has sold 800 copies through BookScan. In most Western countries, the novel has been perceived as empowering for women, while in the author's home country, the Czech Republic, it was taken as a criticism of feminism. We are hoping for ambiguous and mixed reactions in the USA as well, and the potential for much discussion. Some of Petra's inspirations: Her young daughter asking her why this woman on a billboard advertising spaghetti is almost naked. A scene Michel Houellebecq's novel Submission, in which he describes an aging woman as unlovable and impossible to be desired.