Being Emily

By: Rachel Gold

Narrated by: Nicky Endres

They say that whoever you are it's okay, you were born that way. Those words don't comfort Emily, because she was born Christopher and her insides know that her outsides are all wrong.

They say that it gets better, be who you are and it'll be fine. For Emily, telling her parents who she really is means a therapist who insists Christopher is normal and Emily is sick. Telling her girlfriend means lectures about how God doesn't make that kind of mistake.

Emily desperately wants high school in her small Minnesota town to get better. She wants to be the woman she knows is inside, but it's not until a substitute therapist and a girl named Natalie come into her life that she believes she has a chance of actually Being Emily.

A story for anyone who has ever felt that the inside and outside don't match and no one else will understand . . .

In this new, expanded version you will find updated language, expanded and additional scenes, a new note from the author, a new introduction, and an epilogue: Emily and Claire, ten years later.

The groundbreaking classic updated for our generation!

©2018 Rachel Gold (P)2024 Tantor

Why are you crying at work?

I needed a book like this so badly when I was younger, I relate to Emily on the deepest level that I can't keep myself from crying while listening to this at work. Claire's inner turmoil is also extremely relatable as someone who grew up in the Bible belt

A Quintessential Trans Narrative

Being Emily is the book my younger self needed, and I resonated with it on a deeply personal level even as an adult. As the first YA novel to be written from a trans perspective, it sets the bar incredibly high for later trans novels. While Emily faces challenges all too familiar to trans folk of all ages, the book never feels unnecessarily cruel to the character, and it celebrates the joys of the trans experience rather than solely focusing on the negatives.
I left this book feeling endeared not just to the character of Emily, but also her friends and support system. This story does a great job depicting how partners, friends, and family of trans people can support them early in their journey, and I’d recommend it to anyone that wants to be an ally to the trans community.
I’m so glad this novel received an audio book, and the narration is both fitting and flawless! I hope this makes the novel more accessible to future generations of trans readers that need a book like this at a difficult time in their lives.
5/5 - don’t miss this book!

this felt real!

While I can’t relate to the gender dysphoria that many trans people deal with in their youth, this story felt so very real. I did at minimum question my gender because of my same sex attraction. This reminded me acutely of that time in my life and the importance of community.