The New Girl: A Trans Girl Tells It Like It Is

by Rhyannon Styles

'Inspiring and heart-wrenching' Paloma Faith

'Love Rhyannon. Love this book' Grace Dent

The remarkable transgender memoir you won't stop hearing about. Rhyannon Styles will do for transgender what Matt Haig did for mental health. Elle columnist Rhyannon Styles tells her unforgettable life story in THE NEW GIRL, reflecting on her past and charting her incredible journey from male to female. A raw, frank and utterly moving celebration of life.

Imagine feeling lost in your own body. Imagine spending years living a lie, denying what makes you 'you'. This was Ryan's reality. He had to die as a man or live as a woman.

In 2012, Ryan chose Rhyannon. At the age of thirty she began her transition, taking the first steps on the long road to her true self.

Rhyannon holds nothing back in THE NEW GIRL, a heartbreakingly honest telling of her life. Through her catastrophic lows and incredible highs, she paints a glorious technicolour picture of what it's like to be transgender. From cabaret drag acts, brushes with celebrity and Parisian clown school, to struggles with addiction and crippling depression, Rhyannon's story is like nothing you've read before.

Narrated with searing honesty, humour and poignancy, THE NEW GIRL is a powerful book about being true to ourselves, for anyone who's ever felt a little lost.

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Biography, Transgender, Memoir, Autobiography, Gender

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2017

Reviews

[Rachel Ruddick · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a trans woman I approached this memoir broadly supporting the voice Rhyannon gives to the community. Yet on the other hand much of the details of transitioning aren't new to me. This book works best as an explainer for some basic trans concepts for people who don't really know anyone who's going though it. However that's not the only way in which this book is somewhat shallow in its approach.

Rhyannon herself is a frustratingly glib person with too much of the book namechecking famous friends, telling us about her cool taste in bands and describing her parties in hackney before it was trendy. Memoirs don't seem authentic when it seems too self conscious about image. Even when her book finally hits deeper and she spirals into a self destructive pattern, she doesn't know how to describe suffering in a moving way "I was crying whilst heading towards the quinoa" (rough quote) shouldn't be the darkest sentence in the book. Her life is interesting, but she just shouldn't have been the author of it.

Its just not very well written and that's frustrating from someone who called themselves a columnist. Other less high brow transgender people might be forgiven for this. The trans community will someday have its Oscar Wilde, its Patricia Highsmith. It's not going to be Rhyannon Styles. For now I'm sure she'll be happy writing for Elle. Congratulations on her and her transition.

[Noina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first half of this book to be extremely boring, with too many details about parties, outfits and shows, but thankfully the second part was much more touching, informative, reflexive, and very interesting overall. I listened to the last 5 hours in one day, whereas the first 3 hours took me a month to listen to, and I frequently went back because I found myself not having listened for whole parts of it...

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this wonderful memoir in two days. Such a great read. I hadn’t actually come across Rhyannon before, although I wish I had! I found her book in my local library and was keen to read it to improve my understanding of trans experiences and hopefully be a better ally to the trans community.
This book did so much more than that! I love Rhyannon’s voice and I was totally absorbed by her style, her courage, her honesty and her wit in this book.
She’s led such an interesting life and her transition is just one part of this. Some of it was really fun to read, particularly the sections about her life as a performer and cabaret artist. Some of the things she’s done are absolutely mind-blowing! Whilst her honesty about the toll her gender dysphoria took on her life, her family relationships and her mental health were heartbreaking to read at times.
I really appreciated her honesty about her transitioning journey too because there is still so much myth and taboo around this which is really unhelpful.
Rhyannon is an inspiration and an amazing role model and trans-femme/woman. The final sections of the book will stay with me for a while and are helping me to unlearn the binary gender stereotypes I’ve been taught all my life.
I’m looking forward to seeking out more of her work now.

[Alice Kirker · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this book didn’t feel particularly well written, but I must applaud the bravery and courage it has taken Rhyannon to transition, and in turn to share her transition through this autobiography. I did find the final section of the book problematic - her commentary on “trans people finally getting the respect they deserve” seems like a massive blanket statement. Our POC trans brothers and sisters probably do not resonate with such a statement, and while advocacy for the rights of trans folk has massively improved in the last 40 years, the high suicide rates and substance abuse of the trans community (which Rhyannon does reference) point to a huge amount more work to be done. Also, in countries where healthcare isn’t public, transitioning is drastically more expensive and the red tape is even more extensive. All this to say, I’m a cis white woman, so I don’t have a leg to stand on, but I was definitely keen to hear more about the reality of life for the wider, global trans community. Maybe this wasn’t the book for that, but I personally would’ve liked to see it.

[Jay Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d never heard of Rhiannon before seeing this book, I’m obviously not rolling in the same literary circles as the columns she writes for, however, as a trans woman I’ve been interested in discovering other girls stories and trying to understand the different experiences we all go through.

I don’t want to give a bad review if this book just “isn’t for me”, but I found it quite difficult to finish. She started losing me as she was describing the experience growing up in her home town as “it’s bad if you take it up the bum”. (Rough quote)
The writing style felt very “pop” and despite my empathy, even the dark and difficult anecdotes were detracted from by the language and prose. I struggled with the name dropping and the whole experience felt a lot like I was reading an article on an ad infested blog page…

There are much better trans autobiographies out there for those looking to understand the experience. I’m sorry to say that even “The Conundrum - Jan Morris”, despite its dated language and sometimes worrying themes, has more heart in its prologue than this books entirety.

[George Rowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and moving, I found this book to be more than an account of transitioning. It's also about addiction, family life and creativity. It's refreshing to have a voice from the Midlands talking about trans issues, and I loved Rhyannon's typically northern matter-of-fact humour in situations other authors may have milked for the tragedy. Reminiscent of Boy George's first autobiography, the smalltown boy narrative is something most lgbtq+ folk from rural UK can relate to. I absolutely loved her atypical tales of 80's childhood and early 90's adolescence. While its perhaps not a literary masterpiece (a reviewer mentioned Wilde which is not a fitting comparison really, totally different backgrounds and intentions), I think a chorus of voices are crucial to understanding queer culture. I'm excited to read more from this author, she has a talent for distilling experiences and approaches hopeless situations with creativity, humour and positivity.

[Emine Böge · Rating 5 out of 5]

#kitapyorum #okudumbitti

Dün gece bir biyografi olan #yenikız kitabını bitirdim. Bu ara okuma isteğim olmadığı için -ki kitapla kesinlikle alakası yok- 2.5 haftada bitirdim kitabı ve tek kelime ile bayıldım.
Erkek olarak doğmuş bir bireyin transgender olana kadar yaşadığı hayat ve duygu geçişleri çok ama çok muazzam anlatılmış.
Toplumumuzda dışladığımız bu tarz insanlar aslında var ve bizden, biz ne kadar görmek istemesekte... Kitap Ryan'dan Rhyannon olma sürecini kişisinin psikolojisini ve toplumun dayatmalarını dantel edasında ince ince işleyerek okuyucuya empati kurma yönünde çok büyük kolaylık sağlıyor.
İnsanları keşfetmeyi, insan duygularını analiz eden biyografi türü kitapları seviyorsanız bu kitabı kesinlikle ama kesinlikle okumalısınız🤗

Not: Bu kitap Türkiye'de yazılsa idi cinsellikle boğulurdu ama yazar ingiliz ve kitap sizi asla ama asla irite etmiyor.

#solaunitas

[Christine Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no one way to be trans. There's no single script for discovering and coming to terms with who you are and getting from where you are to where you need to be. What's more, it's perhaps becoming more difficult to find the way, as society and medicine's presumptions and rules loosen up. No longer do trans-spectrum people have to squeeze their lives into a single authorised clinical narrative to obtain help with their journey to self truth. And that's where this honest and engaging autobiography of a young trans woman comes in. Rhyannon's account is honest and very engaging, especially in terms of engaging with the messy process of finding your way. It's encouraging too, for the way she engages with the people around her and makes this not just 'any typical transition' but uniquely HER transition.

[Asia Wasaznik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of reviews stated that Rhyannon spent too much time name dropping famous people she knew and events she worked/attended and that her writing was choppy. Personally I loved her telling all of her grand stories and it made me wish I could’ve partied in London in the 90s/00s. Her choppy writing helped me as someone who cannot stay focused for very long/short attention span. I personally enjoyed this book.

[Gillian T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rhyannon's story is one that differs greatly from my life in many many ways, but there are also so many similarities it was hard to read in places. The book is well written, gets her point across and serves to educate about how trans people truly feel growing up, hiding in the closet.
This is on my must read list for friends and families of trans people who are struggling to understand.

[Karen Petersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy reading, which I found very enlightening. I loved Rhyannon's honesty. Many people, myself included, don't fully understand the struggles of a transgender person. This book gave me insights and empathy. Most people should read it to overcome their personal prejudices and assumptions.

[Robin Schoehuijs · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Rhyannon telling about the changes caused by what choises she made, a how certain feelings started after she'd chosen a path she bolstered me at a point where the path an the waitinglist became unbearable

[Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty standard trans memoir - with the exception of the way she's divided the narrative and text. I do appreciate that she separates the parts of her narrative that dealt with mental health, self harm, addiction, and, to an extent, self image. There was the growing up and objective trans narrative - and then the struggles and subjective thoughts that are unique to her life. Solid, enjoyable, nothing extremely standoutish but better than average.

[Katie Stainton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cheeky advanced copy was sent to my office and I knew I had to read it! I LOVED this book, I found it beautiful and eye opening. Highly recommend to everyone and anyone 💛❤️💜

[Sanne Blomme · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last couple of chapters really did something to me...

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

an open and informative autobiography
appreciated her honesty

[Meriel Colenutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved

[Yazmyn Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style wasn't the best but really interesting topic to read about and learn about

[Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

its like if a girl made her priv twitter account into a book

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good insight into gender dysphoria and how help and support is pretty limited. Her story had me laughing and crying.... Amazing openness and honesty!!!!!

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the prose in this book isn't particularly poetic, Styles details her transition with honesty and courage. I'd say this is a good book to share with cis friends and relatives who want to be supportive, but who are very new to trans issues in general.