Rachel Pepper is well-known as the co-author of The Transgender Child. Pepper says she got the idea for this short book from Different Daughters: a Book by Mothers of Lesbians. Transitions of the Heart presents 32 mothers who have experienced learning that their child is transgender.
In their own words in three to ten pages the mothers tell what they did and how they felt.
There is great diversity in their stories, but always an insistence that loving one’s child comes first. The mothers include traditional and free spirited, straight and gay, young and old. Some learned from their toddler that the child’s identity did not match the body and some learned from adult children that the pressure of conforming to gender expectations had become intolerable. Not all of these children expect to transition and some, indeed, are still pre-adolescent. There is a balance between children assigned to the male gender and those assigned female. And there are twins and other siblings in the families.
The range in ages of both mother and child provides an overview of how our culture has changed in its awareness of transgender people and how professional treatment has changed as well. As a result, the audience for this book is potentially broader than just mothers. Anyone who wants to know more about what transgender is all about could use this book as a starting place. I think that people who are transgender will particularly find it helpful in coming out to parents and family.
Any library that serves families should find it helpful.
Reviewer: Carolyn Caywood, Retired
Virginia Beach Public Library