This is the story of a man who is very good at being a woman, and a girl who doesn’t know how to do it at all. @katherinewyvern #LBGTQI

Thank you so much for having me on your blog today to talk about my latest release, Woman as a Foreign Language. WaaFL came out last September, and has had some really wonderful reviews since then.

This is the story of a man who is very good at being a woman, and a girl who doesn’t know how to do it at all.

Julia/n is an incredibly “talented” cross-dresser and Nina is an almost incurable tomboy. They are in fact almost complementary.

I have always had an interest in transgender characters (there was one, Helenay, in my debut novel and its sequel, Black Carnival and White Sands). Nina is a pretty autobiographic character, but Julia/n came about rather suddenly after I watched “The Danish Girl” last spring. I was completely and ridiculously awe-struck by the grace, beauty and dignity with which Eddie Redmayne switched from male to female and back again, and I immediately conceived the idea of writing a character like that. Not a transwoman, like Lili Elbe in the movie, but a truly gender-fluid person, able to be relatively comfortable both as a man and a woman.

The idea was simple enough. Putting it in a book however did require some research. There were so many things to learn about the mechanics of crossdressing, the mindset behind it, and the experiences that go with it. I read a lot of material on the subject, and was privileged by the friendship and confidence of people who answered the most mindboggling-ly embarrassing questions with fantastic humour and generosity. It was a journey to a different planet, one that I hope to show you in this book.

I was so attached to these characters, that once I was done with the book I realized I still had a lot to say on the topic. All this spill-over turned into Spice and Vanilla, WaaFL darker, naughtier, whip-and-leather sister, which will be published in May. It’s not WaaFL’s sequel, but it treats similar themes, and Julia/n and Nina both make a brief appearance. Stay tuned!

Woman as a Foreign Language was Runner-Up for Best Contemporary story in the Evernight Readers’ Choice Awards, and is available on the Evernight site at a 25% discount with the coupon code WINNER2017

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From the Reviews:

“…erotic and romantic; and painful and funny…”

“…the great reading surprise of the year…”

“…a true, master story teller…”

“…beautifully written and heart wrenching…”

“…It's literary fiction in the play of words while being a sensual romance with spark.”

“…I absolutely loved this book. The writing is beautiful, the language perfectly suited to each point-of-view, and the characters wonderfully damaged. At its core, Wyvern twists the usual gender/genre expectations…”

“…Nina is a young woman whose abusive childhood has made her afraid to fully own her femininity. And Julia and Julian are two souls in one body—or perhaps they are the same soul, just reflected in different ways. At first Nina’s attraction to Julia—Julian dressed en femme—seems like a adolescent girl-crush. But then it deepens into love, with some of the most gracefully written and heartfelt erotic scenes I have ever read.”

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Blurb:

What do you do when the woman you want to be … is a man?

Nina’s abusive childhood left her feeling so vulnerable when wearing anything flimsier than combat boots that she has spent her whole adult life dressed like a gang boy. But when she meets the tall, glamourous, charismatic Julia (actually her cross-dressing neighbor, Julian, going out en femme), Nina is seized by an overwhelming and terrifying urge to finally express her own femininity.

Julia/n has not only a slightly split personality but also a thoroughly broken heart. What s/he wants most is a partner who will love both Julia and Julian. While Nina learns from Julia how to be a woman, Julian discovers that they might well be made for each other, but it will take a struggle against prejudice and a whole conservative mind-set before they can follow their hearts, and express their true, unique, and beautiful selves.

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Buy links, excerpts and samples:

Woman as a Foreign Language at Evernight (with excerpt):

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/woman-as-a-foreign-language-by-katherin-wyvern/

Woman as a Foreign Language on Amazon.com (download free sample):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075RR8K1S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505902876&sr=8-1&keywords=woman+as+a+foreign+language

See what Katherine is up to on:

 Katherine’s Blog: https://katherinewyvern.blogspot.fr/

Katherine’s Website: http://meetingivory.wixsite.com/katherinewyvern

Katherine’s Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/Katherine-Wyvern-Author-122569301260917/

Or follow her on Instagram @katherinewyvern

You can also find an exclusive excerpt on my website, here:

http://meetingivory.wixsite.com/katherinewyvern/copy-of-woman-as-a-foreign-language