Mine-Haha

At once a dystopian fantasy and a critique of sexual norms, Mine-Haha describes a unique boarding institution for girls - part idyllic refuge, part prison - where pupils are trained only in the physical arts of movement, dance and music, before issuing into an adult world for which they have (unwittingly) been prepared. The narrator is an old woman recalling her strange childhood and the story is focused through the eyes of her earlier self. Mine-Haha was praised for its progressive outlook by Leon Trotsky in 1908, and has inspired two films - Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Innocence (2004) and John Irvin's The Fine Art of Love (2005). It is here presented alongside two rare, complementary short fictional pieces: 'The Burning of Egliswyl' and 'The Sacrificial Lamb'.