Challenges of pesky pronouns, passport humiliation and underwhelming cup sizes test her spirit yet her charismatic wit never wanes. There are laugh-out-loud moments, heart-wrenching ones too as she tussles with the balance between he and she, and how gender is perceived—for herself and for those around her."
In 2015, I interviewed Nicola and this is what she told me about the book: "In fact, it started out as a journal, a diary, I didn’t set out to write a book. It was relatively early in my transition and I realized that I was having experiences and going through events that had never happened before and may not happen again. Starting hormones, the first therapy session, and so on.
After a few months, I thought, hmmm, maybe this could become a book! Then I started to view my writing in a different light and made a point of noting experiences as they happened. Even if they were just a few notes that I could elaborate on later.
I'd like to think that the main one is to never give up communication, even when you think there is no point. That's a moral for anyone of course, not just for trans people. In my case, this was the relationship with my Mum. When I first told her that I was trans, she was devastated and thought the world was over.
But we never gave up and we always kept a dialogue going. Sometimes it was truly hard, and at other times we both ended up in tears, but we got there in the end. Now our relationship is better than it ever was."
