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Trans-Sister Radio Paperback – August 14, 2001
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When Allison Banks develops a crush on Dana Stevens, she knows that he will give her what she needs most: attention, gentleness, kindness, passion. Her daughter, Carly, enthusiastically witnesses the change in her mother. But then a few months into their relationship, Dana tells Allison his secret: he has always been certain that he is a woman born into the wrong skin, and soon he will transition. Allison, overwhelmed by the depth of her passion, finds herself unable to leave Dana. By deciding to stay, she finds she must confront questions most people never even consider. Not only will her own life and Carly’s be irrevocably changed, she will have to contend with the outrage of a small Vermont community and come to terms with her lover’s new body–hoping against hope that her love will transcend the physical.
Look for Chris Bohjalian's new novel, The Lioness!
- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateAugust 14, 2001
- Dimensions5.19 x 0.83 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100375705171
- ISBN-13978-0375705175
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Trans-Sister Radio…bears Bohjalian’s hallmark: ordinary people in heartbreaking circumstances behaving with grace and dignity…. Speaks directly to the heart.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Bohjalian has … written an interesting [and] ultimately, a quite daring novel, and a worthy successor to Midwives. Like that novel, Trans-Sister Radio challenges readers’ most dearly held notions of biological reality.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
“An insightful look at love and sexuality … with great compassion and insight.” —Los Angeles Times
“A though-provoking tale with a rich, varied texture…. [An] addictive read.” —The Denver Post
From the Inside Flap
When Allison Banks develops a crush on Dana Stevens, she knows that he will give her what she needs most: attention, gentleness, kindness, passion. Her daughter, Carly, enthusiastically witnesses the change in her mother. But then a few months into their relationship, Dana tells Allison his secret: he has always been certain that he is a woman born into the wrong skin, and soon he will have a sex-change operation. Allison, overwhelmed by the depth of her passion, and finds herself unable to leave Dana. By deciding to stay, she finds she must confront questions most people never even consider. Not only will her own life and Carly's be irrevocably changed, she will have to contend with the outrage of a small Vermont community and come to terms with her lover's new body–hoping against hope that her love will transcend the physical.
From the Back Cover
When Allison Banks develops a crush on Dana Stevens, she knows that he will give her what she needs most: attention, gentleness, kindness, passion. Her daughter, Carly, enthusiastically witnesses the change in her mother. But then a few months into their relationship, Dana tells Allison his secret: he has always been certain that he is a woman born into the wrong skin, and soon he will have a sex-change operation. Allison, overwhelmed by the depth of her passion, and finds herself unable to leave Dana. By deciding to stay, she finds she must confront questions most people never even consider. Not only will her own life and Carly's be irrevocably changed, she will have to contend with the outrage of a small Vermont community and come to terms with her lover's new body-hoping against hope that her love will transcend the physical.
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
I was eight when my parents separated, and nine when they actually divorced. That means that for a little more than a decade, I've watched my mom get ready for dates. Sometimes, until I started ninth grade, I'd even keep her company on Saturday afternoons, while she'd take these long, luxurious bubble baths. I'd put the lid down on the toilet and sit there, and we'd talk about school or boys or the guy she was dating.
I stopped joining her in the bathroom in ninth grade for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it had started to seem a little weird to me to be hanging out with her when I was fourteen and she was naked.
But she has always been pretty cool about bodies and sex, and for all I know, she wouldn't mind my joining her in the bathroom even now when I'm home from college. For better or worse--and usually for better--my mom has always been very comfortable with subjects that give most parents the shivers. A couple of days before my fifteenth birthday, she took me to the gynecologist to get me fitted for a diaphragm, and told me where in her bedroom she kept the spermicidally lubricated condoms. (Of course, I already knew: God, by then I even knew where she'd hidden a vibrator.)
I hadn't had sex yet, and my mom made it clear that she didn't want me to in the foreseeable future. But she had a pretty good memory of the hormonal chaos that hits a person in high school, and she wanted to do all that she could for my sake to ensure that she wouldn't become a grandmother any sooner than necessary.
When I think back on it, my parents' divorce was very civilized. At least it has always seemed that way to me, though it's clear there are things I don't know.
The way my mom tells it, I was in second or third grade when they realized they just didn't love each other anymore the way they had when they were first married. They'd worked together at the radio station then, and they'd shared everything. My mom insists they both came to the realization at about the same time that they should separate: My mom was thirty-two and my dad was thirty-three, and they figured they were still young enough to hook up with someone who, in the long years ahead, could keep their motors humming the way they were meant to.
Sometimes my dad hints that it wasn't quite so mutual. Most of the time he toes their party line, but every so often I'll get the impression that when he moved out, he was figuring they'd both change their minds and reconcile in a couple of weeks. I think he might have thought he was just being cool.
Once when he was visiting my mom, I overheard him telling her that he knew her heart had never been into the counseling they went through when I was eight.
Still, he was the one who got remarried.
Sometimes, when I was little, I'd help my mom pick out her jewelry or clothing for a date.
"Wear the pearls," I might suggest.
"It's a clambake," she'd remind me.
"Too formal?"
"And they might scare the oysters."
One time she especially indulged me. I was eleven years old and convinced there was no fashion statement more powerful than a kilt. And so she wore a red-and-green Christmas kilt to a backyard cookout, even though it was the middle of August and the air was just plain sticky. That night my baby-sitter spent most of the time standing in front of a fan, with her T-shirt rolled up like a halter.
If I were to count, I'd guess my mom probably had five serious boyfriends in the decade between my parents' divorce and the day she met Dana. Dana had been in pre-surgical therapy for two years by then and had probably endured close to fifty hours of electrolysis. He'd been on hormone therapy for a good four or five months.
Unlike a lot of pre-op M2Fs, he wasn't trying to pass as a woman yet, he hadn't begun his transition.
Of course, he didn't tell my mom any of this--not that he should have. When they met, he was simply the professor for a film course at the university that she was taking that summer as a lark, and she was one of his students.
What was he supposed to do, say to the class, "Hi, I'm Dana, and I've spent a good part of the last year with my upper lip deadened by Novacaine"?
Or, "Good evening, I'm your professor. I'm about to start developing breasts!"
Or, if he wanted, for some reason, to be completely candid, "You folks ever met a lesbian with a penis? Have now!"
He had no idea he was going to fall in love with my mom, even when they started to date, and she had no idea she was going to fall in love with him. It just happened.
Product details
- Publisher : Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; 49387th edition (August 14, 2001)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0375705171
- ISBN-13 : 978-0375705175
- Item Weight : 10.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.19 x 0.83 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #944,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,554 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #46,911 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #50,437 in American Literature (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 23 books. His work has been translated into 35 languages and three times become movies.
His forthcoming novel, "The Lioness," arrives May 10, 2022.
His most recent novel, "Hour of the Witch," was published in May 2021 and was an instant New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today and Indiebound bestseller. It's a novel of historical suspense set in 1662 Boston, a tale of the first divorce in North America for domestic violence -- and a subsequent witch trial. The Washington Post called "historical fiction at its best. The New York Times called it "harrowing."
His 2018 novel, “The Flight Attendant,” debuted as a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and National Indiebound Bestseller. It is now an an HBO Max series, starring Kaley Cuoco that has been nominated for numerous Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe awards. It was recently renewed for a second season.
His 2020 novel, “The Red Lotus,” is now in paperback. It's a twisting story of love and deceit: an American man vanishes on a rural road in Vietnam and his girlfriend, an emergency room doctor trained to ask questions, follows a path that leads her home to the very hospital where they met. Publishers Weekly called it “a diabolical plot reminiscent of a Robin Cook thriller,” and Booklist described it as “masterful…a cerebral and dramatic dive into what happens when love turns to agony.”
He is also a playwright and screenwriter. He has adapted his novel, “Midwives,” for a play, which premiered in 2020 at the George Street Playhouse, and was directed by David Saint. Broadway World said of it, “The fine playwriting by Bohjalian, the directorial talents of the Playhouse’s Artistic Director, David Saint, and the show’s accomplished cast make this play unforgettable.”
His first play, “Grounded,” premiered at the 59 East 59th Theatres in New York City in the summer of 2018 and is now available as an audiobook and eBook, “Wingspan.”
His books have been chosen as Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Hartford Courant, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Bookpage, and Salon.
His awards include the Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts; the ANCA Freedom Award for his work educating Americans about the Armenian Genocide; the ANCA Arts and Letters Award for The Sandcastle Girls, as well as the Saint Mesrob Mashdots Medal; the New England Society Book Award for The Night Strangers; the New England Book Award; Russia’s Soglasie (Concord) Award for The Sandcastle Girls; a Boston Public Library Literary Light; a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Trans-Sister Radio; a Best Lifestyle Column for “Idyll Banter” from the Vermont Press Association; and the Anahid Literary Award. His novel, Midwives,was a number one New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. He is a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He has written for a wide variety of magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. He was a weekly columnist in Vermont for The Burlington Free Press from 1992 through 2015.
Chris graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Amherst College. He has been awarded Honorary Degrees as well from Amherst, Champlain College, and Castleton University.
He lives in Vermont with his wife, the photographer Victoria Blewer.
Their daughter, Grace Experience, is a young actor in New York City. Among the audiobooks she has narrated are Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands, The Guest Room, and Hour of the Witch.
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Every narrative is mature and revealing. Some characters, Will for instance, were difficult to identify with and perhaps because of how differently they react to fear and the unfamiliar, less personable, less identifiable and distant. Others, voices, like Carly's resonated in harmony with those around them. I hadn't come across this writing style before but am glad I was exposed to it and found it very appropriate to the treatment of this area social justice and plot.
I don't' read a lot of fiction. There's no way I would have picked up this novel; like no way. A friend dropped it through my mail slot with a note, that she thought I'd enjoy it and I sure have. Finding a novel which resonates and doesn't feel like a "waste of time" is rare. Finding one which is well written and engrossing is even more unusual. It could be because I am from the area and culture where the novel is set and identify strongly with at least two of the characters. It could just be that the story is that well written and compelling. Either way, I loved it.
If you want debate, choose this for your book club. I thought this was a fascinating, thought provoking but at times uncomfortable book to read. And to know this is reality for some makes it a wow moment, I feel a little shell shocked but I also feel more educated.
One of the debates is when should personal life be a factor for professional life. Allison has fell in love with a transsexual while she is a school teacher. Chris B was fantastic in the genuine characterization he used in the book for all involved. The ex husband Will, daughter Carly, principle, parents, students and of course the couple themselves Dana and Allison. Some of the advocates at school were out of order and made me realize a great reputation will not always win over decisions that truly should only be yours.
I enjoyed the style of the book, they used the transcript of radio clips and then we heard from different characters in the book in relation to how they were affected or their role in the process. We get some details about the surgery, it can be uncomfortable to read, squeamish at times.
I loved how they alternated between calling Dana he or she, this proves as great debate also. An interesting thought was if Dana had got in an accident and was castrated by mistake, many would be supportive but to choose castration, how could he. Very complex thoughts. Allison has always been straight, now that her partner is no longer a man, is she gay, hmmm.
Every thought that you have while reading this, the author will touch on, amazing really. I live in a small community and if this happened, I can see many reacting the same, news and radio for sure. Unfortunately some of the judgments too.
My only issue was the ending and I think it just made me uncomfortable in so many ways which also makes me feel guilty. It ended a little to quickly and neatly but then I think do I really want to know.
I highly recommend this one just for the heart wrenching, emotional but thought provoking adventure it take you on.









