By publishing VengeressesPeggy-Loup Garbal unleashes a rare and precious voice and does justice to those who suffer an invisible handicap, in her case Asperger’s autism. In this breathless novel, two autistic twin sisters take revenge on those who have inflicted pain and humiliation on them. These fictional acts of revenge shed light on very real mistreatment, when you’re both a woman and autistic… Dominique Bellier
Vengeresses tells the story of inseparable sisters who set off by train from the north to the south of France to punish, one by one, those who have mistreated them, from Pantalon the rapist to the judge who separated them from a foster family that was “too loving”, not forgetting an old woman with outrageous retorts…
This narrative thread creates suspense and spices up the novel, but its captivating character is as much due to the author’s intellectual and stylistic maturity, and to what she teaches us about this invisible handicap, which disrupts our relationship with others and our environment. Peggy-Loup explained at the recent Trou d’Eau Douce Book Festival that this syndrome makes her afraid of not finding her way home, and even of not recognizing her children when they leave school. It makes people hypersensitive to noises or smells, alters their perception of distances, causes them to lose their balance and makes them insomniac…
At the age of three, Peggy-Loup could read but not speak, like her sister whom she calls “her double and her half”. This novel underlines the power and importance of the twin bond that united these silent girls during the difficult years. In both cases, the diagnosis came far too late, preventing the high potential from expressing itself, because it was not detected in time. What a waste!