The title of this biography recalls the words used by a Casablanca surgeon in 1960 to greet the subject of this book after she had undergone gender-affirming surgery.

April Ashley was a UK model and trans pioneer, appointed MBE in 2012 for services to transgender equality and honoured in 2015 by being named Liverpool’s Citizen of Honour.

April Ashley’s life was thoroughly documented in the many newspaper, radio and television interviews she had given since the 1960s.

She was born in Liverpool in 1935, named George Jamieson, grew into a feminine-looking boy, and always felt female. Trying to fit into his working-class background, George was bullied at home and school, and twice tried to end his life. In all her interviews, Ashley never denied the pain she had endured while being identified as a boy.

After stints working in hospitality, George started performing at Le Carrousel in Paris, a nightclub specialising in the art of drag.

George had never given up on his plan to undergo gender-affirming surgery by his 25th birthday, and he achieved that, as one of the first Britons to do so. The authors have documented Ashley’s glittering career as a model and her brief marriage to the son of a baron. She became notorious because of a high-profile divorce battle, with a final 1970 decision denying transgender women legal status.

Because of publicity during her life, April Ashley’s life is well known to many people, but this biography pulls all that material together in a dispassionate manner.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville