Trans: A Memoir

Description

In July 2012, aged thirty, Juliet Jacques underwent sex reassignment surgery-a process she chronicled with unflinching honesty in a serialised national newspaper column. Trans tells of her life to the present moment: a story of growing up, of defining yourself, and of the rapidly changing world of gender politics. Fresh from university, eager to escape a dead-end job and launch a career as a writer, she navigates the treacherous waters of a world where, even in the liberal and feminist media, transgender identities go unacknowledged, misunderstood or worse. Revealing, honest,humorous, and self-deprecating, Trans includes an epilogue with Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?

Juliet Jacques is best known for the Guardian's 'Transgender Journey', a column longlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2011. A regular contributor to the New Statesman, she has also written for Granta, TimeOut, Filmwaves, 3am, the London Review of Books, the New Humanist, the New Inquiry, and many other publications. She lives in London.

Trans challenges us all, no matter what our gender or sexuality. Ultimately, it makes us look at ourselves, and wonder what price we pay for the identities we assume, or which we have thrust upon us. -- Philip Hoare * New Statesman * Juliet Jacques's Trans ... provides a lyrical exploration of her own gender journey against the background of increasing media interest in transgender issues. Thoughtful and intimate, it's a fine successor to books such as Jan Morris's Conundrum. -- Helen Lewis * Guardian * Powerful and engaging. . . it's hard not to see her as anything other than brave, even as she pushes readers to recognize that what is revolutionary is the very ordinariness of her day-to-day life * New York Times * Brutally honest and funny. * Marie Claire * Provides a lyrical exploration of her own gender journey against the background of increasing media interest in transgender issues. Thoughtful and intimate, it's a fine successor to books such as Jan Morris's Conundrum * Helen Lewis, Guardian, Books of the Year * Challenges us all, no matter what our gender or sexuality. Ultimately, it makes us look at our selves, and wonder what price we pay for the identities we assume, or which we have thrust upon us. * Philip Hoare, New Statesman * Brave and moving, Trans is necessary reading for anyone who cares about gender,power, freedom and desire. Juliet Jacques deals with the forces of cruelty andignorance with hard-won clarity and calm. A vital voice in our turbulent times * Olivia Laing, author of The Trip to Echo Spring * Amarvelously nuanced journey through gender, brilliantly contextualized in thedisparate worlds of pop culture, football, mass media, and the NHS . a terrificread by an accomplished author. * -Kate Bornstein, author of A Queer and Pleasant Danger * Understated and urgent, Jacques comes across as a woman carrying an ambiguity she doesn't seem to want or feel able fully to shed...She confounds the distinction, not just between male and female, but also between the emotional atmospheres which the various trans identities are meant - 'instructed' may be the right word - to personify. -- Jacqueline Rose * London Review of Books * A thoughtful and honest account of the realities of life as a trans woman ... accessible and relatable, regardless of your gender identity * Independent *