

Wonderfully written novel that reads like a coming of age memoir.
#ReadtheWorld2025 #spain
Wonderfully written novel that reads like a coming of age memoir.
#ReadtheWorld2025 #spain
@Jas16 😭😭😭Thanks so much for sending this to me. We follow this boy‘s coming of age set in a neighborhood outside Madrid. Growing up he realizes that he‘s a she. With the help of his community and some very colorful women, the she inside of him realizes her full potential. There is a lot of hurt in this book. The internal prison she keeps herself in because of shame and fear of losing family but also her physical safety was hard to read. Pick!
Narrated by a trans woman who was a young child in a blue-collar area of Madrid in the 1980s and grew up during the AIDS era this is a heart-breaking but life-affirming novel.
The vignettes of the neighbourhood, life and people around the MC were beautifully told, but always with a threatening undercurrent.
Loved the women who supported our un-named protagonist, and helped her become herself, particularly Margarita and Eugenia.
A must read!
A coming of age story about a trans woman in Madrid, from the opening sentence I knew this was going to an unforgettable read. Bursting with love and pain, this journey from a confused child to a woman who has been guided by the kindness and understanding of the community she finds was beautifully told. These characters leapt from the pages, from Eugenia to Margarita. They broke my heart and repaired it into something stronger.
This was so good. I picked it up because Pedro Almodóvqr blurbed it and it exceeded my expectations. The striking & poignant Madrid characters made me think of Almodóvqr‘s films (& he‘s referenced in it). The narrator is a trans woman & this is a stark, beautiful exploration of how to survive in a community where she can‘t be herself. Each scene is perfectly realised. Her mentors are heartbreaking. Stunning writing. Authentic. A must-read.