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What It Feels Like for a Girl

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What It Feels Like for a Girl

By: Paris Lees
Narrated by: Paris Lees
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About this listen

Thirteen-year-old Byron needs to get away and doesn't care how. Sick of being beaten up by lads for 'talkin' like a poof' after school. Sick of dad - the weightlifting, womanising Gaz - and Mam, who selfishly pissed off to Turkey like Shirley Valentine. Sick of the people who shuffle about Hucknall like the living dead, going on about kitchens they're too skint to do up and marriages they're too scared to leave.

It's a new millennium, Madonna's Music is top of the charts and there's a whole world to explore - and Byron's happy to beg, steal and skank onto a rollercoaster ride of hedonism. Life explodes like a rush of ecstasy when Byron discovers the Fallen Divas Project and the East Midlands' premier podium-dancer-cum-hellraiser, the mesmerising Lady Die. But when the comedown finally kicks in, Byron arrives at a shocking encounter that will change life forever.

Unflinching, hilarious and heartbreaking, What It Feels Like for a Girl is the unique, hotly anticipated and addictively listenable debut from one of Britain's most exciting young writers.

©2021 Paris Lees (P)2021 Penguin Audio Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Witty Feel-Good Funny Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking Tear-jerking

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Critic reviews

Fresh, original, heartbreaking and optimistic. The subtlety of time passing reminds me of Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's writing. (Reni Eddo Lodge)
Paris Lees is the voice of a generation (Paul Flynn)
Brilliant, brutal and bitingly funny, Lees is going to rip your heart out and show you the ugly truth about kids Britain would rather pretend don't exist. There's never been a book like this (Matthew Todd)
All stars
Most relevant
This was a riveting story, wonderfully well told and read by the author herself. So many sharp observations and so much wit. I loved it from start to finish.

Fascinating!

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I rolled around queer Nottingham in my teens in the 90's too and thus particularly connected to this story and references. But above all it's a great listen that's funny, tough and completely lovable. A story worth hearing!

Couldn't press stop...

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Oh my goodness, what a great book! Now I may be biased as I’m from the area (I too was brought up in Hucknall on a street with the Lord Byron pub at the end of it, albeit at right angles to Paris’s street!), however the use of this particular regional accent/dialect really brings it to life. Although I’m sure that it’s just as polarising as Paris herself can be. I listened to the audio book, which Paris actually narrates, and it really does bring something else to it. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and everything else in between.

Some of the content may be a bit on the wild side for some, however that is the life that was lived. Someone came into the room when I was listening to it, and said ‘what are you listening to, radio porn?!’ Of course it’s not porn, just a different experience of life. I’m sure it’s no worse than some romance novelists, just a different version of it.

I think the thing I loved most about it is the format, the way it is written not as a traditional autobiography as in ‘I did this and then I did that’, but as a story, bringing characters to life along the way. I was totally submerged in the life being lived, definitely felt like one of the gang. I also loved the way that Paris addresses the issue of mental health, how things seem as a teenager and how she comes through it/sees things differently as a young adult.

I know that this is only a snapshot of life, and really hope that there is more to come. An inspiration for so many, not just as a trans role model/icon but as a truly remarkable person, I’m looking forward to seeing all that Paris goes on to do in her life.

Not just a trans role model/icon, a truly remarkable person

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Sad, heartbreaking, brutal, funny, uplifting & joyus. Thank you Paris for sharing.
Highly recommend

utterly fabulous

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Paris’s early life story told so beautifully. Amazingly evocative, told by Paris herself, you feel like you’re alongside her through every adventure. Not shying away from some of the challenging moments in those early years, she manages to communicate pain with a humour and authenticity that only helps you connect to her experience and never get overwhelmed by it. She’s a super talented writer and hope there’s plenty more where this came from ❤️

Moving, funny and insightful

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I laughed out loud, was horrified, shocked, inspired and in awe of her bravery. I felt her fear and determination and vulnerability. I loved this book. I hope Paris writes more of her story soon. Thank you.

Brilliant, Moving, Real

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A really moving honest book I loved Paris reading it. Highly recommend and I’m looking forward to more!!

Brilliant

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Loved this, hope we get to hear the rest of her story in the future

The author is always the best narrator

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A very very moving memoir from a transgender woman growing up in a Nottingham council estate in the late 90's early noughties. Paris is not that much younger than me and each chapter is named either after music of the time so anyone between their mid thirties to mid forties should especially enjoy this book.

I heard the audio version of the book rather than reading it from the page and Paris reads it not only in Nottingham dialect but also sticks to the present tense throughout which really brings the narrative to life and makes you feel like you're living every word with her.

This is not a book for young eyes\ears, were it a TV show it would definitely be broadcast post watershed but I like those and I loved it. I hope she writes another volume or two because I desperately want to know what happens next..

Never has a title been more apt

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How my life may've been different if I had read this when I was a teenage. Many, many comparisons from the brain dead, chav, nobhead bullies, to wanting and liking something you'd been conditioned is bad. swap Hucknell for Hatfield and they wouldn't have been worlds apart.

Speechless, just wow.

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