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"No Man's Land" is a story of one woman's struggle towards finding both her true self and with that the true acceptance she deserves, through the sharing the story of two lives intimately entwined from her early years of age until present day..
Born as a male in post war Germany, Paula spent her formative years in Southern and Northern Ireland as a young son growing up with her family and then soon living adventures of her own, constantly on a voyage of self-discovery, struggling to find her true gender identity while trying to maintain a 'normal' life both on her own, and as a loving husband and father to her children. Paula struggles through life as Paul, through a mixture of fear, guilt and sometimes a feel of helplessness as she works hard to suppress her inner self, throwing herself into work, doing all the things that men do but still harbouring her inner feelings.
Finally after many years Paula cannot be Paul and so the journey turns to transitioning to her preferred gender and the accompanying Sexual re-assingment surgery. Now living in a self-imposed exile in Manchester, Paula tells her dramatic story of what it means to struggle with Gender Identity Disorder, and the high price to be paid for finding out who you really are, in terms of friendships, family and career and self.
I think again many people will be able to relate to what is happening in Paulas life, and many references to her experiences in London and Manchester will be familiar also to many of those that have transitioned over the years in the UK.
Reviewed by Denise
No Man's Land: The Story of a Man who became a Woman
by Paula Grieg