Her Name Is Alice: My Daughter, Her Transition and Why We Must Remember Her
When my third child was born, I was told I had a boy. The baby was given a boy’s name and raised in that gender. But when she died, twenty years later, she died as my daughter, and will forever be remembered that way.
Alice Litman died by suicide in May 2022, aged just twenty years old, having already waited almost three years for her first appointment at a gender identity clinic.
In stunningly beautiful prose, Caroline Litman captures the realities of an often-messy journey navigating both her daughter’s transition and the days, weeks and months after Alice’s death.
Searing, urgent and utterly unique, Her Name is Alice is the raw, human story of a mother’s love and grief for her child – and of a young trans woman who is impossible to forget and who must be remembered.
'Thoughtful, beautiful and incredibly necessary. People need to read this book, especially if they feel a resistance to do so. I wish everyone would.' Sofie Hagen -
”'Uncompromising, anguished, combative: culture wars have victims, and this is an agonising story told with honesty and passion.” - Richard Beard
'I read it in two sittings, two big gulps. It feels inadequate to say how brave she is, in the living of the experience and then the honest, raw recounting of it. Her voice is as clear as a bell and she shares a powerful insight into a system, so ineffective and broken it feels pointless. I had no idea it was that bad. Seeing this through her daughter’s and her family’s eyes is breathtakingly awful and compelling with glimmers of hope in the conclusion.' Lucy Brazier -
'An intimate reflection on a mother-daughter relationship that is frank and heartbreaking. Caroline bravely shares how her own prejudice towards transgender people impacted how she treated Alice when she came out, showing us that it is possible for people to change their views. While the NHS trans healthcare system is moving in the wrong direction to prevent further tragedies like Alice's death, we can still hope that Her Name Is Alice helps other parents to love their trans kids as fiercely as Caroline loves Alice.' Vic Parsons -