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The Belenggu Cantos by Armijn Pane In this book, a group of merchants’ wives from the Dutch East Indies tells the story of their husbands. As they speak, each woman offers insights into what life is like for her and how she feels about her husband. And seeing as these women are married to merchants who often travel abroad to trade with other parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe (and sometimes bring home unusual items), many of their tales are quite interesting. There is some overlap between each chapter but at no point do you feel like you need more than one or two chapters before moving on; the stories make themselves easy to follow. Johanna, a runaway from a Catholic orphanage in Holland, is the first to tell her story. Johanna meets her husband while he is traveling in Europe and they have a whirlwind romance that quickly moves to marriage. Once married, Johanna finds herself very unhappy with the way she is treated by her new husband and his family. Her husband’s family thinks of her as nothing more than a servant—they send out for food so they don’t have to have Johanna cook for them, she sleeps on the floor while they sleep on beds of down—and treat her like their maid rather than their daughter-in-law. Johanna’s husband also takes her on a seven-year trip to Java, where she is promptly left behind when her husband decides to go back to Holland. After he leaves, Johanna discovers that she is pregnant. At this point in the story, Johanna disappears for about three years, which we find out later when we learn what happens after the birth of her child. During these three years, Johanna lives in a cabin on an island and struggles to take care of herself and her child. She makes a few friends and meets a man who grows obsessed with her (though not in a romantic way; rather he feels like she is his sister). Johanna sells her baby to another couple who are interested in adopting her child. Johanna eventually realizes that she doesn’t fit in with these people and decides to leave the island, but she never sees her husband again. Lisbeth is the wife of a wealthy rather uptight merchant who wants his family to be as “proper” as possible. He believes that if his wife acts like a proper member of society, their children will also behave properly, thus ensuring better futures for all of them. What it comes down to, though, is that his wife is not allowed to do anything fun at all, much less try to make friends. Lisbeth runs away when she returns home from a party one night and finds her husband in bed with another woman. She becomes pregnant shortly after this, but miscarries in the sixth month, which leads her husband to think that he won’t be able to have children. She learns that if she can give birth in Holland, her child will be born free—which means the child will be able to live anywhere she likes. Lisbeth leaves her husband and travels by ship with another Dutch woman who is also traveling back home for this purpose. cfa1e77820
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