A family saga about migration, destiny, gender relations and intersexuality. Cal was born as Calliope, the daughter of a Greek-American family in Michigan. But during puberty, the girl develops more and more male features and Cal finds out that he is intersexual and feels more male than female. He retells the story of his family. How his grandparents escaped Turkey and, keeping it a secret that they were brother and sister, got married on a boat to America. How their son fell in love with his cousin and how Cal came to be born a girl.

The family’s history is intertwined with the history of the USA, giving a migrant’s perspective on events such as the 1920’s Prohibition, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, the novel is suitable for interdisciplinary teaching with subjects such as History or Ethics.

Novel · United States · 2002