George and Julia is a landmark memoir that occupies a unique place in British social history, not only as a deeply personal life story but also as a practical and cultural document that reshaped how transgender lives were understood in the late twentieth century. Published in 1980 by New English Library as a tie in to the BBC television series A Change of Sex, the book introduced a mass readership to the reality of gender transition at a time when the subject was barely discussed outside medical journals and sensationalist headlines. Written by Julia Grant, it combines autobiography, documentary reflection, and pragmatic guidance, becoming, for many readers, an essential manual for navigating transition beyond the rigid and often hostile NHS system.
The book tells the story of Julia Grant, born George Roberts in Fleetwood, Lancashire, in 1954, and begins by situating her struggle with gender identity within a childhood shaped by neglect, violence, and emotional deprivation. As the eldest of eight children in a working class fishing family, Julia grew up carrying responsibilities far beyond her years. Her mother, Jessica, was an alcoholic who attempted suicide several times, while her father, Philip, was a violent drunkard who, according to later accounts, sexually abused Julia when she was still a child. These early experiences form the emotional foundation of George and Julia, not as an excuse for later choices but as the context in which confusion, shame, and longing for affection first took root. Periods spent in a children’s home in Preston further reinforced her sense of displacement, and by her teenage years she had begun prostituting herself to men, an act she later described as a misguided search for love rather than money.
This realization coincided with the BBC’s decision to document her life, resulting in the groundbreaking television series A Change of Sex. George and Julia mirrors the structure and tone of the first documentary film directed by David Pearson, which aired in 1979 and attracted an audience of nearly nine million viewers on BBC2. Pearson described the series as intimate, frank, and observational, and the book adopts the same approach, allowing readers into moments of vulnerability, conflict, and determination. Julia Grant became the first transgender person in the UK to have her transition followed in such detail by mainstream media, and the book captures both the opportunity and the burden of that visibility.
The book also documents the hostile media environment surrounding the series. In the week before the first programme aired, Sunday tabloids published aggressive and sensationalist stories about Julia and the films. Despite this, George and Julia conveys her determination to become, in her own words, the woman she wanted to be. Pearson later reflected that it was her gritty humour and refusal to collapse under condescension that persuaded many viewers of the legitimacy of her cause. The book reproduces this tone, balancing anger and pain with sharp wit and an unflinching refusal to apologise for existing.
One of the reasons George and Julia became so influential within trans communities was its practical detail. Beyond recounting her personal journey, Julia explained how she navigated bureaucratic obstacles, sought private medical care, and built networks of support outside the NHS. For readers facing similar barriers, the book functioned as an informal guide, showing that transition was possible even when official pathways were obstructed. This aspect of the book was especially significant at a time when information was scarce and often deliberately withheld by medical authorities.
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