By Delilah Kealy-Roberts
Photography courtesy of Pexels
It’s that time of month again: Welcome back to the Bechdel Book Club! I hope you’ve had a successful month of uninterrupted booky Sundays, inspiring content and kick-ass female protagonists. If not, then you’ve certainly come to the right place to replenish your Bechdel needs.
This month, in the wake of recent news stories, I want to widen the criteria a bit. The Bechdel test requires, as we well know by now, a conversation between two female characters which does not revolve around a male. Now, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is a good start; a jumping off point if you will. But it isn’t enough to make our reading lists inclusive, interesting and just all round fearless.
So, as well as being a Bechdel Book Club, let’s make this a non-binary book club. In essence, a book club that focuses on any literature of interest that does not revolve solely and tiresomely around the straight white man (yawn).
With that in mind, let me introduce this month’s book: Trumpet by Jackie Kay. If you haven’t yet read this book, then please get your hands on it: it is so important. Especially in the disappointing and terrifying political climate of today for transgender and non-binary people.
Trumpet is the story of Joss Moody, who is first and foremost a jazz musician. A trumpet player to be precise (bet you didn’t guess). The story of Joss, who was assigned the label of woman at birth but lived their adult life (secretly) as a man, is told posthumously, through the voice of his wife, Millie. The heart-breaking and poetic account is relayed in relation to different people Joss encounters both before and after his death. When the death certificate has been written up by the doctor and the body has been addressed by the funeral director, Joss Moody is declared as, biologically and rigidly ‘female’.
The scandal spirals from this point. Has Joss Moody been living a lie? The fact of his birth identity has been hidden not only from many adoring jazz fans but even his own adopted son. The chaos and outrage over the ‘true’ gender of the famous musician fuels the tabloids, but begs the question to the reader: does Joss Moody’s biological gender really matter?
Jackie Kay tells this story in a delicate way which entertains, warms and sometimes even frustrates the reader. She hooks you in, telling a critical tale; you wait, bated breath for a big reveal, but you never quite get it. The door to the private family life calmly closes at the abrupt end of a chapter and it is as if you are politely being told that sorry, Joss’ gender is actually none of your business, and in the scheme of things, of little consequence.
As well as telling an earnest story, Trumpet almost goes as far as to satirise the whole concept of gender. Joss was a kind person, an exceptional musician and good husband, what difference did his sexual organs realistically make?
I chose this book both for the strong female narrative lead by Millie, the female villain of the story — relentless journalist Sophie Stone (honesty, she’ll irritate the hell out of you) — and the powerful trans representation. Something that today, more than ever, needs to be acknowledged and celebrated. This celebration can be loud and proud, or quiet, within the family, because as Jackie Kay so elegantly expresses throughout this novel: no one is owed an explanation, and no one needs a final answer to the mystery of gender, you are who you are and that is for you to decide.
That’s all for now from me, I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s non-binary addition of the Bechdel Book Club! There are so many important voices to be heard through reading novels, female, trans, non-binary and otherwise, so tune in next month to hear me ramble on about even more Bechdel babes.
Some Bechdel Book Club Questions:
1. Joss’ apparent ‘deceit’ is obsessed over by characters within this novel. Do you think there was any deception at play? Should he have been more upfront with his son or is the matter of gender personal to the self?
2. How do you think Joss’ life might have played out if he either 1. Continued his life being misgendered as female, or 2. Identified openly as transgender?
3. Music is used throughout the novel to represent fluidity. If you, or anyone you know has undergone anything similar to Joss, has music been an important tool?
You can read up on instalment one, two and three of Delilah’s Bechdel Book Club by clicking these hyperlinks.
Delilah Kealy-Roberts
Delilah is a BA English literature graduate and writer based in the North East of England. She specialises in anything dystopian, with a particular interest in gender politics (spoiler alert: gender roles don’t exist in the apocalypse). She has an affinity towards finding cheap flights out of the UK and colossal veggie breakfasts.
