you would think, with all the reams of text devoted to the pains and absurdities of ageing, we would find it less surprising. transness compounds this. how can i be 30? you might exclaim. i only got started three years ago, so i must surely be three.
wild geese is the debut novel of soula emmanuel and suspected to be the first novel by any irish trans person. she was born in 1990 to an irish mother and greek father, and she studied in universities in both ireland and sweden.
it makes sense, then, that wild geese follows an irish trans woman who has been living in copenhagen for several years. recently 30, phoebe – the character’s name is phoebe – left ireland for a fresh start at being a new person. she’s broken off all her connections and forged scarcely any new ones; she denies her past and has built only a scant present, let alone a future. but this changes when her ex, grace, pays her an unconvincingly ‘spontaneous’ visit.
The full piece, by Clara Paige, is here.
Soula Emmanuel 