Miriam Toews' Women Talking is a circadian novel, unfolding over a span of just a few hours and taking place almost entirely in a single room. This room is a barn located in the fictional Mennonite community of Molotschna, and the book's title epitomizes its entire plot: The women of Molotschna have gathered together to discuss whether or not they should leave the community en masse.

This debate has sprung from horrifying events that are based on a true story. (See Beyond the Book) The women of Molotschna have been visited by "ghosts" in the night that drugged and raped them. When one of these "ghosts" was caught and discovered to be an ordinary denizen of the community, he confessed and implicated several other men in the assaults. After one of the victims attempted to murder one of the attackers with a scythe, the police were called to arrest the perpetrators for their own safety, ...