Thanks to Dana and the lovely team at TG World, we've had the opportunity to review a wide selection of their titles. As if having a trans* focused publisher isn't lovely enough, the diversity in their titles is quite amazing.A Girl's Life is a clever, intelligent, and thoughtful story that explores questions of faith, love, and gender. Even if you weren't raised in a religious home, the kind of rigid control of thoughts and emotions in the opening chapters is likely to bring back unpleasant memories for anybody who has ever struggled with their gender or their sexuality. I know it made me identify with the narrator early on, and I cheered him on as he learned to question, to wonder, and to explore.
This is not a sexual story, not by any means. While there is some frank discussion about naked bodies, a kiss is about as far as any act of intimacy goes. Instead, it's a story about a journey, about a young man who is magically transformed into a young woman, and who uses that opportunity to learn what it means to love one's self, and to be loved in return.
D.K. Masters tells a lovely story. If I were to have one complaint, it's that I wanted more. There are some big questions left unresolved regarding the implications of Dana's new life, but I recognize that they're not important to the core story. A Girl's Life is very much a wish-fulfillment kind of fantasy, but a thoughtful one at the same time.
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