My novel would get an A on the Swedish gender bias test!

. . . if it were a movie, that is.  A film group in Sweden has created a new gender bias rating, which is apparently either “A” or nothing, called the Bechdel test.  It has three rules:

        – There must be at least two women with names in the film.

       -  At least two women must talk to each other at some point.

        – The women must talk to each other about something other than a man.

http://www.euractiv.com/culture/swedish-cinemas-introduce-femini-news-531648

But you know, it is close; The Pennants of Larkhall has plenty of strong women — Queen Rowena holds the realm together after her husband is killed, while their son Harlan is away; her daughter, Princess Calandra (Calley), is Harlan’s right-hand woman; and Calandra’s cousin Amira is active, shall we say, and ambitious to a fault — but they do not often talk to each other. Rowena upbraids (male) soldiers, and takes reports from the (male) commander of the army, but that’s not enough to pass the test.

But they talk to each other — more than once! I’ll take the “A.”

Here’s one such passage — two women talking to each other during a siege:

Larkhall did not have a plan if the walls broke down. The castle was the plan; that was all. No enemy had ever broken in. If the northerners managed it, what then?

“We could head to the fortress, but it might be too crowded with other families doing the same thing,” Elise said. “It would be. We’re not close to it; too many other people would beat us there. And the fortress isn’t big enough to hold everyone in the whole castle, not anymore. So what would we do?”

“We’ll keep your longest knives about,” Marlatta said.