Sworn Virgin

This is a novel about an Albanian woman, Hana, who has been living as a sworn virgin, a man named Mark, for the last 14 years, immigrating to the United States and becoming a woman again. The story of how Hana became Mark ( and to some extent why) is interspersed with the story of Hana adjusting to life in the States and life as a woman again. I could have used a bit more explication of the social rules that made it necessary for Hana to become a man and why it was an honor for her foster father that she did so. There is very little explaining in this novel, and for the most part I appreciated that. I had to take everyone as I found them even as they were culturally very different from what I'm used to. But the sworn virgin custom is SO different from anything in my culture that I feel like it warranted a little more explanation than it got.

This book was written in Italian and translated into English.