The essay examines two recent postcolonial women writers' delicate negotiations of definitions of the body, home and national identity, in relation to the transnational forces of war and the market which impinge on national integrity and loyalty. Via readings of work by the Zimbabwean Yvonne Vera and the best-selling Indian writer Arundhati Roy, the essay suggests that, contrary to current definitions of the postcolonial novel, women writers might in fact be seeking to reclaim the conflicted space of the nation as a refuge in a globalised world. Particular attention is given to the emblematisation of the nation as a women's space, and as a woman.