Thanuja

A Tamil refugee escaping the civil war in Sri Lanka, through India to Europe, Thanuja's life is complicated by migration and gender transition. Confusion, pleasure and betrayal characterise the circuitous path to recognising herself as a woman. Gender reassignment surgery is a milestone, but there are difficulties ahead. In Thanuja's words, 'No one can even imagine what happens in a transwoman's life. You cannot understand us with mainstream norms, laws, culture, literature and principles. We have been betrayed by history.'This powerful memoir weaves family life, sexual awakening, work life, globe-spanning journeys and the navigation of state laws and regulations to present a fully human portrait of ambiguity and joyful contradiction, of a refugee claiming citizenship and of a transwoman claiming her body and dignity.