Sacred Country by Rose Tremain

This is a novel with real weight to it.  Not the size of the book, but its the breadth and depth of the writing that makes everyone and everything in it feel three dimensional.  At times I could almost feel the heat coming off the characters and see the emotion in their eyes.

It's about a girl who feels she has been born in the wrong body and should have entered the world as a boy, but before you start thinking that Rose Tremain has jumped on some kind of fashionable bandwagon, please note that this novel was originally published in 1992.  That was over twenty years before Caitlin Jenner transitioned, and at a time when most people were only vaguely aware of one or  two trans people in the public eye who they probably regarded as some kind of novelty.

In the book, we meet Mary as a six year child who lives on a farm in Suffolk with her parents, but both of them have issues with their mental health and life becomes a daily battle.  her mother seems trapped in a world of her own and her father, whose ear was badly injured in the war, is prone to rages and Mary thinks the only thing that allows him to hear is the sound of her crying. Sadly, Mary can cope with the mental and physical abuse, but it is the feeling of not being the person she was meant to be that troubles her most.

For a long time there is no one to talk to, but her maternal grandfather is always willing to listen and he makes no objection to Mary changing her name to Martin.  At first this is just a nickname, but as time goes on it becomes an identity and the first step to a female to male transition.

Anyone who transitions not only has their physical appearance to deal with, but also the reactions of the people around them that are often just as important.  It is never easy for anyone involved, and at one stage in the book someone close to Martin describes it as a kind of bereavement.  It is necessary to put aside the person called Mary and then accept a new person called Martin who has become someone else altogether.

There is no political slant to this book and it concentrates firmly on how it felt for Mary to become Martin and I can't help feeling that this would be a lot harder to achieve if the book was written today.  It is a very strong read and one of those books that you don't forget in a hurry.