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Die Umwandlung
At the age of six, Mary Ward, the child of a poor farming family in Suffolk, has a she isn't Mary, she's a boy. So begins Mary's heroic struggle to change gender, while around her others also strive to find a place of safety and fulfilment in a savage and confusing world.
428 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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1491 people want to read
About the author
Rose Tremain
77 books1,106 followersDame Rose Tremain is an acclaimed English novelist and short story writer, celebrated for her distinctive approach to historical fiction and her focus on characters who exist on the margins of society. Educated at the Sorbonne and the University of East Anglia, where she later taught creative writing and served as Chancellor, Tremain has produced a rich body of work spanning novels, short stories, plays, and memoir. Influenced by writers such as William Golding and Gabriel García Márquez, her narratives often blend psychological depth with lyrical prose.
Among her many honors, she has received the Whitbread Award for Music and Silence, the Orange Prize for The Road Home, and the National Jewish Book Award for The Gustav Sonata. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Restoration and has been recognized multiple times by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. In 2020, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. Tremain lives in Norfolk and continues to write, with her recent novel Absolutely and Forever shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize.
Among her many honors, she has received the Whitbread Award for Music and Silence, the Orange Prize for The Road Home, and the National Jewish Book Award for The Gustav Sonata. She was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Restoration and has been recognized multiple times by the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. In 2020, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to literature. Tremain lives in Norfolk and continues to write, with her recent novel Absolutely and Forever shortlisted for the 2024 Walter Scott Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews
March 26, 2012
Mary Ward stands shivering in a Suffolk, England field in February, 1952 and realizes she is meant to be a boy. She is just six years old. Within its opening pages Sacred Country promises to take you on a literary journey that will be long and painful. Rest assured, it will also be beautiful and transformative.
Although Mary and her quest for her physical identity are at the heart of Sacred Country, it is a book full of souls searching for emotional purchase. Mary's mother has a tenuous grip on sanity, losing her way at intervals and regaining her footing in a nearby mental hospital; Mary's father is in danger of losing the family farm and slips further into madness borne of anger and alcohol; her brother loses his dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer because he is too afraid to dive. A village friend, Walter, dreams of becoming a country-and-western singer, but must take over the family butcher shop when his father dies. It seems that there is nothing but heartbreak in gray and lifeless post-war Britain, that the future is alive in vibrant cities and on warm continents but in rural England the past rots in small and suspicious minds.
Yet Tremain offers enough light in the gloom that hope propels you forward. Mary's awkward courage as she stumbles through her transformation from Mary to Martin makes her so lovable. And she is surrounded by a small but formidable defense of friends and loved ones: her grandfather, who accepts her unconditionally; her beloved teacher who embraces her intellect and shelters her when home life becomes unbearable; the cricket-bat maker who believes in reincarnation; his maid (who becomes his lover, then his wife) and her daughter, Pearl, who breaks Mary's heart and helps it to heal.
Rose Tremain's writing is flawless. Although this is a narrative focused on character development, the plot moves steadily forward. Although there are numerous characters and several sub-plots, there is a sense of the whole within each part. Vivid details of time and place hold you firmly in each era, the characters evolving with their age, changing with the times. The characters' senses of humor and irony clear the air that could easily turn maudlin under the pen of a less-deft writer.
This is a book about transformation, about letting go of those who cannot change and embracing those who try. Sacred Country touched me profoundly with its humanity, its hope, its brutality and its intense love. It is rare that I close a book and cry at its end. This is a rare book, indeed.
Although Mary and her quest for her physical identity are at the heart of Sacred Country, it is a book full of souls searching for emotional purchase. Mary's mother has a tenuous grip on sanity, losing her way at intervals and regaining her footing in a nearby mental hospital; Mary's father is in danger of losing the family farm and slips further into madness borne of anger and alcohol; her brother loses his dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer because he is too afraid to dive. A village friend, Walter, dreams of becoming a country-and-western singer, but must take over the family butcher shop when his father dies. It seems that there is nothing but heartbreak in gray and lifeless post-war Britain, that the future is alive in vibrant cities and on warm continents but in rural England the past rots in small and suspicious minds.
Yet Tremain offers enough light in the gloom that hope propels you forward. Mary's awkward courage as she stumbles through her transformation from Mary to Martin makes her so lovable. And she is surrounded by a small but formidable defense of friends and loved ones: her grandfather, who accepts her unconditionally; her beloved teacher who embraces her intellect and shelters her when home life becomes unbearable; the cricket-bat maker who believes in reincarnation; his maid (who becomes his lover, then his wife) and her daughter, Pearl, who breaks Mary's heart and helps it to heal.
Rose Tremain's writing is flawless. Although this is a narrative focused on character development, the plot moves steadily forward. Although there are numerous characters and several sub-plots, there is a sense of the whole within each part. Vivid details of time and place hold you firmly in each era, the characters evolving with their age, changing with the times. The characters' senses of humor and irony clear the air that could easily turn maudlin under the pen of a less-deft writer.
This is a book about transformation, about letting go of those who cannot change and embracing those who try. Sacred Country touched me profoundly with its humanity, its hope, its brutality and its intense love. It is rare that I close a book and cry at its end. This is a rare book, indeed.
January 26, 2022
This story begins in Swaithey village, rural England in 1952 where six year old Mary, standing in a cold field, comes to the realisation that she's meant to be a boy. This tale however, is not only the story of Mary's journey to become Martin, but is full of rich characters, all with their own story, all searching for happiness, a sense of themselves and their own kind of peace. As ever with Rose Tremain, beautifully written, poignant, and with characters that stay with you.
March 8, 2018
'Sacred Country' (1992) has rocketed into the list of my all time favourite books.
Part of my motivation for reading 'Sacred Country' was the announcement that it has been chosen by City Reads in 2018. City Reads is Brighton & Hove's annual citywide reading festival: one book by one author is selected for the whole community to read, discuss, debate and creatively engage with in a series of special events, workshops and performances.
A lot of the reviews and summaries characterise 'Sacred Country' as a tale about a transgender person...
Beginning in a Suffolk village in the early 1950s and moving through three decades, we come to know not only our central character Mary/Martin born as a girl into the wrong body, but also the family and characters within that small community; those who find happiness and their place in the world and those who struggle to do so.
In actual fact the Mary/Martin narrative is just one of a dozen or so different narratives. Each of the small-town characters hails from the area around the fictional village of Swaithey in rural Suffolk. The stories start in the early 1950s and end in 1980. The overlapping narratives are told in a series of short chapters, which switch from the perspective of the various characters.
Mary/Martin's tale is wonderful - but so are the other stories and characters that Rose describes. Outwardly these are fairly insignificant people going about their quiet existences, however all have interesting and rich inner lives, and this is what makes the book so compelling. By the end of 'Sacred Country' I had fallen in love with Estelle Ward, Walter Loomis, Pearl Harker, Thomas Cord, and Edward Harker, and was also fascinated by the large supporting cast that includes Sonny, Gilbert, Stern, Cleo, Pete, and many more.
'Sacred Country' features a lot of tragedy and drama, however it is also extremely playful and humorous, and very poignant.
It's beautifully written, awash with memorable characters, firmly rooted in the different times and places that feature across a three decade narrative, and slowly but surely builds to a powerful and emotional conclusion.
I'm so glad I read it. I adored it. I look forward to reading more of Rose Tremain's work.
Wondrous
* * * * *
Rose Tremain's best-selling novels have won many awards, including the Baileys Women's Prize, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Prix Femina Etranger. Restoration, the first of her novels to feature Robert Merivel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She lives in Norfolk and London with the biographer Richard Holmes.
http://rosetremain.co.uk/
* * * * *
Part of my motivation for reading 'Sacred Country' was the announcement that it has been chosen by City Reads in 2018. City Reads is Brighton & Hove's annual citywide reading festival: one book by one author is selected for the whole community to read, discuss, debate and creatively engage with in a series of special events, workshops and performances.
A lot of the reviews and summaries characterise 'Sacred Country' as a tale about a transgender person...
Beginning in a Suffolk village in the early 1950s and moving through three decades, we come to know not only our central character Mary/Martin born as a girl into the wrong body, but also the family and characters within that small community; those who find happiness and their place in the world and those who struggle to do so.
In actual fact the Mary/Martin narrative is just one of a dozen or so different narratives. Each of the small-town characters hails from the area around the fictional village of Swaithey in rural Suffolk. The stories start in the early 1950s and end in 1980. The overlapping narratives are told in a series of short chapters, which switch from the perspective of the various characters.
Mary/Martin's tale is wonderful - but so are the other stories and characters that Rose describes. Outwardly these are fairly insignificant people going about their quiet existences, however all have interesting and rich inner lives, and this is what makes the book so compelling. By the end of 'Sacred Country' I had fallen in love with Estelle Ward, Walter Loomis, Pearl Harker, Thomas Cord, and Edward Harker, and was also fascinated by the large supporting cast that includes Sonny, Gilbert, Stern, Cleo, Pete, and many more.
'Sacred Country' features a lot of tragedy and drama, however it is also extremely playful and humorous, and very poignant.
It's beautifully written, awash with memorable characters, firmly rooted in the different times and places that feature across a three decade narrative, and slowly but surely builds to a powerful and emotional conclusion.
I'm so glad I read it. I adored it. I look forward to reading more of Rose Tremain's work.
Wondrous
* * * * *
Rose Tremain's best-selling novels have won many awards, including the Baileys Women's Prize, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Prix Femina Etranger. Restoration, the first of her novels to feature Robert Merivel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She lives in Norfolk and London with the biographer Richard Holmes.
http://rosetremain.co.uk/
* * * * *
October 13, 2012
Sacred Country has at its core, the story of Mary Ward who in 1952, at six years old, while standing in the middle of a field in Suffolk in a silence intended to mark the death of the king, realises that she is a boy trapped in a girl's body. The novel follows her struggle with the implications of this realisation, culminating thirty years later in hormone treatment and a double mastectomy.
The story is also filled with the voices of the people around Mary - her brother, father, mother, grandfather and primary school teacher, her mother's friend and the man whose house that friend cleans, the friend's daughter, the local butcher and his brother, the slaughterman. These characters make up a community of eccentrics and misfits whose absurdity the author nevertheless somehow invests with a kind of nobility.
Using a variety of narrative modes and adopting a range of different voices, Rose Tremaine manages to take us right inside the skins of these characters - in Mary's case a skin that she is trying to remake so it conforms to her sense of herself. In the process we see the contrast between the grainy reality of the characters' lives and the dreams to which they all aspire.
Poignant, moving and often painfully funny, Sacred Country is a novel about the way individuals are trapped by the weight of the past and by the expectations of others. It's about the overwhelming need to forge an identity for oneself in the face of these expectations and the difficulty of finding, or even recognising happiness, when it arrives. It is without doubt one of the finest novels I have ever read.
The story is also filled with the voices of the people around Mary - her brother, father, mother, grandfather and primary school teacher, her mother's friend and the man whose house that friend cleans, the friend's daughter, the local butcher and his brother, the slaughterman. These characters make up a community of eccentrics and misfits whose absurdity the author nevertheless somehow invests with a kind of nobility.
Using a variety of narrative modes and adopting a range of different voices, Rose Tremaine manages to take us right inside the skins of these characters - in Mary's case a skin that she is trying to remake so it conforms to her sense of herself. In the process we see the contrast between the grainy reality of the characters' lives and the dreams to which they all aspire.
Poignant, moving and often painfully funny, Sacred Country is a novel about the way individuals are trapped by the weight of the past and by the expectations of others. It's about the overwhelming need to forge an identity for oneself in the face of these expectations and the difficulty of finding, or even recognising happiness, when it arrives. It is without doubt one of the finest novels I have ever read.
May 20, 2021
‘I wish I’d known years ago that the Pursuit of Happiness was a right.’
I really appreciated this book- a thought provoking and meaningful book about loneliness, happiness and its pursuit, the little lives of people and how we define success or failure. This is one of those books where on almost every page there is a quote that holds meaning- to me anyway. I’ve read other books by Rose Tremain before and do love her writing. I loved the weaving of several characters’ stories from one village connect to create a beautiful tapestry, a microcosm of the world. I loved how Peace and self determination can set you free.
I really appreciated this book- a thought provoking and meaningful book about loneliness, happiness and its pursuit, the little lives of people and how we define success or failure. This is one of those books where on almost every page there is a quote that holds meaning- to me anyway. I’ve read other books by Rose Tremain before and do love her writing. I loved the weaving of several characters’ stories from one village connect to create a beautiful tapestry, a microcosm of the world. I loved how Peace and self determination can set you free.
May 21, 2020
(3.5) In 1952, on the day a two-minute silence is held for the dead king, six-year-old Mary Ward has a distinct thought: “I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl. I’m a boy.” Growing up on a Suffolk farm with a violent father and a mentally ill mother, Mary asks to be called Martin and binds her breasts with bandages. Kicked out at age 15, she lives with her retired teacher and then starts to pursue a life on her own terms in London. While working for a literary magazine and dating women, she consults a doctor and psychologist to explore the hormonal and surgical options for becoming the man she believes she’s always been.
Meanwhile, a hometown acquaintance with whom she once shared a dentist’s waiting room, Walter Loomis, gives up his family’s butcher shop to pursue his passion for country music. Both he and Mary/Martin are sexually fluid and, dissatisfied with the existence they were born into, resolve to search for something more. The outsiders’ journeys take them to Tennessee, of all places. But when Martin joins Walter there, it’s an anticlimax. You’d expect their new lives to dovetail together, but instead they remain separate strivers.
At a bare summary, this seems like a simple plot, but Tremain complicates it with many minor characters and subplots. The story line stretches to 1980: nearly three decades’ worth of historical and social upheaval. The third person narration shifts perspective often to show a whole breadth of experience in this small English village, while occasional first-person passages from Mary and from her mother, Estelle, who’s in and out of a mental hospital, lend intimacy. Otherwise, the minor characters feel flat, more like symbols or mouthpieces.
To give a flavor of the book’s many random elements, here’s a decoding of the extraordinary cover on the copy I picked up from the free bookshop where I volunteer:
Tremain must have been ahead of the times in writing a trans character. She acknowledged that the premise was inspired by Conundrum by Jan Morris (who, born James, knew he was really a girl from the age of five). I recall that Sacred Country turned up often in the footnotes of Tremain’s recent memoir, Rosie, so I expect it has little autobiographical resonances and is a work she’s particularly proud of. It feels very different from her other books I’ve read; while it’s not as straightforwardly readable as The Road Home, I’d call it my second favorite from her. The writing is somewhat reminiscent of Kate Atkinson, early A.S. Byatt and Shena Mackay, and it’s a memorable exploration of hidden identity and the parts of life that remain a mystery.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Meanwhile, a hometown acquaintance with whom she once shared a dentist’s waiting room, Walter Loomis, gives up his family’s butcher shop to pursue his passion for country music. Both he and Mary/Martin are sexually fluid and, dissatisfied with the existence they were born into, resolve to search for something more. The outsiders’ journeys take them to Tennessee, of all places. But when Martin joins Walter there, it’s an anticlimax. You’d expect their new lives to dovetail together, but instead they remain separate strivers.
At a bare summary, this seems like a simple plot, but Tremain complicates it with many minor characters and subplots. The story line stretches to 1980: nearly three decades’ worth of historical and social upheaval. The third person narration shifts perspective often to show a whole breadth of experience in this small English village, while occasional first-person passages from Mary and from her mother, Estelle, who’s in and out of a mental hospital, lend intimacy. Otherwise, the minor characters feel flat, more like symbols or mouthpieces.
To give a flavor of the book’s many random elements, here’s a decoding of the extraordinary cover on the copy I picked up from the free bookshop where I volunteer:
Crimson background and oval shape = female anatomy, menstruation
Central figure in a medieval painting style, with royal blue cloth = Mary
Masculine muscle structure plus yin-yang at top = blended sexuality
Airplane = Estelle’s mother died in a glider accident
Confederate flag = Tennessee
Cards = fate/chance, conjuring tricks Mary learns at school, fortune teller Walter visits
Cleaver = the Loomis butcher shop
Cricket bat = Edward Harker’s craft; he employs and then marries Estelle’s friend Irene
Guitar = Walter’s country music ambitions
Oyster shell with pearl = Irene’s daughter Pearl, whom young Mary loves so much she takes her (then a baby) in to school for show-and-tell
Cutout torso = the search for the title land (both inward and outer), a place beyond duality
Tremain must have been ahead of the times in writing a trans character. She acknowledged that the premise was inspired by Conundrum by Jan Morris (who, born James, knew he was really a girl from the age of five). I recall that Sacred Country turned up often in the footnotes of Tremain’s recent memoir, Rosie, so I expect it has little autobiographical resonances and is a work she’s particularly proud of. It feels very different from her other books I’ve read; while it’s not as straightforwardly readable as The Road Home, I’d call it my second favorite from her. The writing is somewhat reminiscent of Kate Atkinson, early A.S. Byatt and Shena Mackay, and it’s a memorable exploration of hidden identity and the parts of life that remain a mystery.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
December 4, 2017
I gained insights from this novel,which feels uncannily current given that it first came out in 1992.
Six-year-old Mary Ward stands in a snowy field with her family to observe the two-minute silence for the burial of King George VI. But a screech from her pet guinea fowl near the farmhouse where they live elicits an answering secret cry from the heart of the small schoolgirl: 'I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl. I'm a boy.'
And so a long journey begins, which is to be both painful and at times exhilarating, but which will lead Mary Ward gradually closer to her goal - the life of an independent adult male by the name of Martin. Both hindered and supported by a large cast of fairly odd-ball characters, some of whom will also need to break free from their stifling Suffolk village, Mary's search for an authentic identity means leaving home for a decade-long stay in nineteen-sixties London. And when her therapist suggests she leave, moving on, as Martin, to Nashville USA.
Tremain treats all her characters with a rarely-found evenhandedness and lightness of touch, which nevertheless can excavate the most expertly hidden secrets and bring some strange truths to the page. Sacred Country tracks the struggles of a group of ordinary left-behind people, a few of whom will succeed in giving form to their long-thwarted dreams. While their context within an isolated, rural coastal community is a great portrayal of a much-neglected corner of post-war England.
Six-year-old Mary Ward stands in a snowy field with her family to observe the two-minute silence for the burial of King George VI. But a screech from her pet guinea fowl near the farmhouse where they live elicits an answering secret cry from the heart of the small schoolgirl: 'I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl. I'm a boy.'
And so a long journey begins, which is to be both painful and at times exhilarating, but which will lead Mary Ward gradually closer to her goal - the life of an independent adult male by the name of Martin. Both hindered and supported by a large cast of fairly odd-ball characters, some of whom will also need to break free from their stifling Suffolk village, Mary's search for an authentic identity means leaving home for a decade-long stay in nineteen-sixties London. And when her therapist suggests she leave, moving on, as Martin, to Nashville USA.
Tremain treats all her characters with a rarely-found evenhandedness and lightness of touch, which nevertheless can excavate the most expertly hidden secrets and bring some strange truths to the page. Sacred Country tracks the struggles of a group of ordinary left-behind people, a few of whom will succeed in giving form to their long-thwarted dreams. While their context within an isolated, rural coastal community is a great portrayal of a much-neglected corner of post-war England.
August 3, 2022
Goodness what a lot to think about. This is a novel about gender and sexuality and about finding out who you are. As a straight cis gender man I’m not best place to say whether the story is a success but from my perspective it feels like it asks all the right questions and makes all the right points whilst also being a brilliant story in the usual Rose Tremaine tradition. She is an amazing writer who never fails to impress me.
May 15, 2023
I’ve spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the opening third of this book. It’s really good, softly spoken, but ambitious. Mary’s misgivings about her gender are right there from the off, but her inner monologue with Margaritte the Guinea fowl is not without humour and pathos.
All around Mary’s narrative are family members, villagers, teachers, Co-workers, doctors- all of whom similarly wrestling with identity, the difference between what they want and what they have. Mary/Martin does not know it, but they are not alone in their aspiration/dissatisfaction. Butchers pine to become country singers. Reclusive cricket bat makers desire a family. Dentists who yearn to be openly gay. Little brothers who want to be priests. And all of them long, slow roads, not simple - full of fallings short and some intermittent degree of happy.
This book is good at moving through time with a strong sense of what will follow and manages to make multiple perspectives make sense. It has depth and scale, while not letting go of little painted details, small jokes. The village of Swaithy is both claustrophobic and homely - people are both kindly and disappointingly cruel. I had some wispy recollections of the tableaux that is Middlemarch.
But the last third set in the US, bringing freedom, as it does, was lost on me a little. Martin lacked some if Mary’s dry colour, and the Americans all felt more like painted scenery than Estelle and Sonny and that bloody dog had done. I missed them. Change brings resolution, but it is not easily one, seems to be the upshot. Some great vignettes in here, illustrating all the ‘want’ inside people all the time, filled and unfulfilled, articulated, unspoken - the sideshow palm reader you can have sex with, Mary bringing baby Pearl to school - a signifier of all the feelings yet to come. In as much as wanting to change gender is part of this fairly common need for something that feels unattainable - this is a story of a transgender person. But equally it’s the story of anybody that outgrows their circumstance. I really enjoyed it.
All around Mary’s narrative are family members, villagers, teachers, Co-workers, doctors- all of whom similarly wrestling with identity, the difference between what they want and what they have. Mary/Martin does not know it, but they are not alone in their aspiration/dissatisfaction. Butchers pine to become country singers. Reclusive cricket bat makers desire a family. Dentists who yearn to be openly gay. Little brothers who want to be priests. And all of them long, slow roads, not simple - full of fallings short and some intermittent degree of happy.
This book is good at moving through time with a strong sense of what will follow and manages to make multiple perspectives make sense. It has depth and scale, while not letting go of little painted details, small jokes. The village of Swaithy is both claustrophobic and homely - people are both kindly and disappointingly cruel. I had some wispy recollections of the tableaux that is Middlemarch.
But the last third set in the US, bringing freedom, as it does, was lost on me a little. Martin lacked some if Mary’s dry colour, and the Americans all felt more like painted scenery than Estelle and Sonny and that bloody dog had done. I missed them. Change brings resolution, but it is not easily one, seems to be the upshot. Some great vignettes in here, illustrating all the ‘want’ inside people all the time, filled and unfulfilled, articulated, unspoken - the sideshow palm reader you can have sex with, Mary bringing baby Pearl to school - a signifier of all the feelings yet to come. In as much as wanting to change gender is part of this fairly common need for something that feels unattainable - this is a story of a transgender person. But equally it’s the story of anybody that outgrows their circumstance. I really enjoyed it.
January 15, 2018
I absolutely loved this. It was so heartfelt and heartwarming but at the same time extremely funny and though provoking. Tremain's writing style is so rich and intelligent and it made me laugh out loud several times. But the story in general was much more than what I expected it. Tremain handles a large cast of characters with notable elegance managing to create multidimensional people that populate a rich and realistic world. She takes the reader almost through 4 decades of these characters' lives and she manages to create completely believable and fully fledged stories for each and every one of the characters.
At the centre of the book lies Mary or Martin, a young boy who was born in the body of a girl, but the characters that surround Martin are equally complicated and interesting. Finishing the book you certainly feel that you've read an epic work and I will miss the characters and the setting. A great novel and I will certainly be reading more of Rose Tremain's books in the future.
At the centre of the book lies Mary or Martin, a young boy who was born in the body of a girl, but the characters that surround Martin are equally complicated and interesting. Finishing the book you certainly feel that you've read an epic work and I will miss the characters and the setting. A great novel and I will certainly be reading more of Rose Tremain's books in the future.
March 4, 2018
I was directed towards this book because it appeared to centre on a transsexual character, and I have an interest in that sort of thing, and in how trans characters are portrayed by cis writers. Sometimes this portrayal can be almost unrecognisably false and bad. Not here! Rose Tremain obviously did her homework. Mary/Martin is well and convincingly portrayed as a complex character for whom things are never quite perfectly resolved. This moment, after his undergoing a mastectomy, rings so true-
“I imagined all the other operations waiting for me in the future and the pain still to come, and I had a thought that I hardly ever allow myself to think: why couldn’t it have been simple? Why couldn’t I have just accepted being Mary Ward?
“The answers are: because it wasn’t. Because I couldn’t. Because I am not Mary Ward. And no one- not Harker, not Sterns, not I - can explain it better than that. All we have are theories. It remains one of the million mysteries left in the world.”
...though Mary's evolution towards Martin is far more nuanced than may be suggested by the episode involving surgery, quoted here (I did so because the quote captures the nature of that unprovable yet very powerful innate sense of gender identity that we have).
The other characters are important and interesting too, and I finished the book wishing it wasn’t ending there. Engrossing, hopeful and sometimes sad.
“I imagined all the other operations waiting for me in the future and the pain still to come, and I had a thought that I hardly ever allow myself to think: why couldn’t it have been simple? Why couldn’t I have just accepted being Mary Ward?
“The answers are: because it wasn’t. Because I couldn’t. Because I am not Mary Ward. And no one- not Harker, not Sterns, not I - can explain it better than that. All we have are theories. It remains one of the million mysteries left in the world.”
...though Mary's evolution towards Martin is far more nuanced than may be suggested by the episode involving surgery, quoted here (I did so because the quote captures the nature of that unprovable yet very powerful innate sense of gender identity that we have).
The other characters are important and interesting too, and I finished the book wishing it wasn’t ending there. Engrossing, hopeful and sometimes sad.
May 19, 2009
Loved this. Loved this. Loved this. While the storyline and circumstances described are a bit somber, this was ultimately a really inspiring read. You follow the life of a remarkable young girl who from the age of six knows that she is really meant to be a boy. The main story is interesting enough, but there is an inter-weaving of characters, each with their own remarkable character development and growth. The relationship between Mary and her grandfather is beautiful to read. And very simply, the strongest message to come from this is loving people for who they really are and surviving when much seems lost.
October 24, 2022
One of the best, and enchantingly beautiful written books I’ve read.
The main story is really good but the interwoven characters and their stories, relationships, development and growth really make this book for me too.
The main story is really good but the interwoven characters and their stories, relationships, development and growth really make this book for me too.
June 22, 2018
4.5 stars. Another Rose Tremain novel I have enjoyed thoroughly. I just love the stories she spins and the way she writes. She can write about the most depressing subject and make it beautiful with her turn of phrase. I was instantly engaged by the lives of the main protagonists in this novel. It is one of those novels I found difficult to put down and so could not wait to get back to it. And that, to me, is the sign of an excellent novel.
September 29, 2013
This was well-written, but DAMN, it was depressing. Considering the original publication date, that's not surprising. Also, not much has changed, really, in terms of publishing and trans characters in YA lit. This book is an odd combination of unrealistic (there is no hatred directed toward the main character, from anyone in the book, for her decision, which considering the time period of the story is, well, questionable) and tragi-trans. But NO ONE in this book is happy, so...yeah. I wouldn't read it again, but it wasn't badly written either. Eh.
May 21, 2008
Bleak, bleak, bleak. Only because I am a big fan of Rose Tremain's work did I force myself to finish this. Tremain's characters are exiles of one kind or another, sundered from their true home or true nature by external forces, struggling to find a way to spiritual integrity, to a metaphorical home they only vaguely intuit the existence of. In Sacred Country, the struggle is horrendous and unending. Too much, too bleak.
January 26, 2015
Bowled over by this story...On the surface you would not imagine a Suffolk community 1952-1980 could comprise such characters and be "undressed" in such a poignant and understated way. Loved the characters and how they grew, the viewpoints and the unravelling/sweeping under the carpet of sanity, sexuality, family, hopes and dreams. Reminded me of Annabel by Kathleen Winter in its intensity and its way of addressing identity.
April 5, 2017
"Steam began to come off the shoulders of my coat. And I had a ravenous hunger. I knew that at the reception there would be shrimp vol-au-vents and bits of cheddar cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks and I thought: this is how life is: we are tempted from our chosen paths by the smallest things. We deserve to die."
February 24, 2020
Bleak, bleak, bleak. Eloquent, beautifully written and deeply moving, but whilst I was immersed in the plot and the various characters, I could not dispel the all pervading sense of hopelessness ; characters only just surviving as the slings and arrows of their unfortunate lives swept them away into a dark and doomed future. This book is for the brave of heart only.
August 18, 2007
This is the second Tremain book I read, and her writing continues to astound me; it has a quiet magnificence to it. She also does a splendid job of weaving together stories which, in the hands of a less talented writer, could become unpleasantly entangled.
April 26, 2017
A poignant tale following a group of characters as they attempt to break free of the constraints and expectations of an English rural backwater, by turns poignant, funny and beautifully observed. The central story of Mary/Martin, a boy growing up in a girl's body, is particularly moving.
May 21, 2023
It's hard to express how it feels to read something that reflects your soul so well, even when it was written decades before you existed. Something like weightlessness at the thought that your community has always existed. Even before you knew about it...
October 6, 2025
Rose Tremain's 'Sacred Country' is heartbreaking, brilliant, and miserable as mud. Following a number of residents of the small English village of Swaithey from 1952 all the way to 1980 – including, miraculously, a trans boy, who suffers and does wrong and yet has more purpose than many around him – it's what I would call 'a Middlemarch': a collection of many vignettes of ordinary people's lives that adds up to something much more profound than the sum of its parts.
I should say: this book was published by a cis author in 1992, and there are aspects of the trans story that have the potential to irk a modern audience. (I'm a trans woman, and after a while they certainly irked me.) Even after he's clawed his way into medical transition and basically everyone in his life has come around to calling him Martin, the narrative voice persists anachronistically with 'Mary' and 'she' for much too long, which feels undermining of what the writing otherwise achieves. (It does finally, in the title of his very last point-of-view chapter, switch to 'Martin'.)
At the same time, there are aspects of the depiction I appreciated, such as Tremain's staunch refusal to provide any *reason* that Martin is trans. (That's always such a temptation for cis authors, I feel, especially of those older generations – to locate some childhood trauma or psychological dysfunction or genomic abnormality that 'explains' our condition.) But Martin simply *is* trans, who knows why, and despite the unfortunate old-fashioned semiotic stickiness, the novel does treat this substantively as a fact.
Martin, however, is only one of many characters that Sacred Country follows, and his isn't even close to the saddest story. There are wayward country singers and suicidal farmers and papery schoolteachers and self-mutilating butchers and fragile aspiring dental nurses, and they all get their due: aging through the decades until they don't.
It's always hard to articulate the emotional payoff of a Middlemarch, because you find yourself gesturing frantically at a pile of what sounds like quotidian village trivia and saying lamely, "It's just life! People live these whole lives, and then it's over! Every person is so vast and so small and it's so sad!"
Anyway, Sacred Country made me cry, and I'll probably sound like an idiot if I try to explain why. 😋
I should say: this book was published by a cis author in 1992, and there are aspects of the trans story that have the potential to irk a modern audience. (I'm a trans woman, and after a while they certainly irked me.) Even after he's clawed his way into medical transition and basically everyone in his life has come around to calling him Martin, the narrative voice persists anachronistically with 'Mary' and 'she' for much too long, which feels undermining of what the writing otherwise achieves. (It does finally, in the title of his very last point-of-view chapter, switch to 'Martin'.)
At the same time, there are aspects of the depiction I appreciated, such as Tremain's staunch refusal to provide any *reason* that Martin is trans. (That's always such a temptation for cis authors, I feel, especially of those older generations – to locate some childhood trauma or psychological dysfunction or genomic abnormality that 'explains' our condition.) But Martin simply *is* trans, who knows why, and despite the unfortunate old-fashioned semiotic stickiness, the novel does treat this substantively as a fact.
Martin, however, is only one of many characters that Sacred Country follows, and his isn't even close to the saddest story. There are wayward country singers and suicidal farmers and papery schoolteachers and self-mutilating butchers and fragile aspiring dental nurses, and they all get their due: aging through the decades until they don't.
It's always hard to articulate the emotional payoff of a Middlemarch, because you find yourself gesturing frantically at a pile of what sounds like quotidian village trivia and saying lamely, "It's just life! People live these whole lives, and then it's over! Every person is so vast and so small and it's so sad!"
Anyway, Sacred Country made me cry, and I'll probably sound like an idiot if I try to explain why. 😋
August 6, 2018
When Martin Ward is six years old, he realises he isn't the girl everyone else sees. It is 1952, and he lives in an impoverished and dysfunctional family in rural England. He finds solace in friendships with others, including his grandfather, Cord, and among a few other local people who are also dislocated and hopeless. The narrative explores not just Martin's life, but also his mother's struggles with mental illness, his brother's need to escape the grinding poverty of the farm, and particularly studies Walter, a local man who is forced to work in his family's slaughterhouse when he desperately wants to be a musician. In a way, this is a story about thwarted dreams, and about seeking personal fulfillment, no matter the cost. It is a moving book, humane and raw, written in atmospheric but precise prose.
I was recommended to read this as a novel with a transgender main character -- as it was published in 1992, I questioned whether it would deal with trans issues in a modern way, and whether it would be insensitive. It definitely falls into the trope of "born in the wrong body" but I was really impressed with how complexly the novel deals with Martin's emotions and his journey, and how it feels very individual and true. I would recommend this.
I was recommended to read this as a novel with a transgender main character -- as it was published in 1992, I questioned whether it would deal with trans issues in a modern way, and whether it would be insensitive. It definitely falls into the trope of "born in the wrong body" but I was really impressed with how complexly the novel deals with Martin's emotions and his journey, and how it feels very individual and true. I would recommend this.
June 21, 2023
This book had very good reviews and I read it for one of my bookclubs. For some reason I couldn’t get into it. It read a bit easier towards the end but I was looking forward to reading something else. The topic is interesting as it is about a transgender person in the 60s in Suffolk in England. The story is told through characters and from their points of view. Mary’s transition to Martin is written in a tender and moving way.
I am struggling to identify why I failed to engage with the Sacred Country and why the writing style irritated me. I often wondered, why are you saying this, what is this passage for? But I managed to pick my favourite character, Mary’s/Martin’s grandfather, Cord. How I wish I had such Grandpa Cord in my life now.
#rosetremain #rosetremainthesacredcountry #thesacredcountry
#books #book #bookstagram #ilovebooks #ilovereading #książki #czytambolubię #kochamksiążki #kochamczytać #ksiazka
I am struggling to identify why I failed to engage with the Sacred Country and why the writing style irritated me. I often wondered, why are you saying this, what is this passage for? But I managed to pick my favourite character, Mary’s/Martin’s grandfather, Cord. How I wish I had such Grandpa Cord in my life now.
#rosetremain #rosetremainthesacredcountry #thesacredcountry
#books #book #bookstagram #ilovebooks #ilovereading #książki #czytambolubię #kochamksiążki #kochamczytać #ksiazka
July 29, 2018
In 1992, Rose Tremain took a brave step in telling the story of Mary, who becomes Martin. Today, 'trans' people are given more understanding and respect than Mary could possibly experience growing up in the 50s and 60s. Tremain uses great skill and compassion to tell not only Mary's story but also those of other characters in the small English village of Swaithey. These include people who provide emotional and physical refuge for Mary when her father denounces her and her mother retreats into mental illness. Told from a mixture of first and third person voices, this is a tender and thoughtful story with memorable characters, an interesting social background and a wide emotional range.
April 29, 2018
Gifted to our book club by City Reads, this turned out to be a popular books amongst our members.
Starting in 1950s Suffolk we meet 6 year old Mary Ward who has a revelation. I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl I am a boy.
We follow Mary's heroic struggle to change gender. A good deal of the book is set in Suffolk which feels claustrophobic and depressing and it is there we get to know other characters, including Walter who is destined to become a butcher but just wants to sing; Mary's parents Sonny (a strict, war damaged farmer) and Estelle who suffers mental health issues and often spends time in an asylum; Edward Harker a cricket bat maker how believes in reincarnation and his wife Irene and her baby daughter Pearl whom Mary adores.
The book then moves to London in the mid 60s where Mary becomes Martin and begins her journey to become the man she believes she is.
Told sometimes by the author and sometimes by one of the characters, it feels a little depressing at times - no one ever seems to be very happy. There are some lovely characters however who love and support Mary, particularly her grandfather Cord, her old school teacher and Edward Harker.
I think the overall theme of the novel is achieving acceptance. I enjoyed it and would be keen to read more of her work.
Starting in 1950s Suffolk we meet 6 year old Mary Ward who has a revelation. I am not Mary. That is a mistake. I am not a girl I am a boy.
We follow Mary's heroic struggle to change gender. A good deal of the book is set in Suffolk which feels claustrophobic and depressing and it is there we get to know other characters, including Walter who is destined to become a butcher but just wants to sing; Mary's parents Sonny (a strict, war damaged farmer) and Estelle who suffers mental health issues and often spends time in an asylum; Edward Harker a cricket bat maker how believes in reincarnation and his wife Irene and her baby daughter Pearl whom Mary adores.
The book then moves to London in the mid 60s where Mary becomes Martin and begins her journey to become the man she believes she is.
Told sometimes by the author and sometimes by one of the characters, it feels a little depressing at times - no one ever seems to be very happy. There are some lovely characters however who love and support Mary, particularly her grandfather Cord, her old school teacher and Edward Harker.
I think the overall theme of the novel is achieving acceptance. I enjoyed it and would be keen to read more of her work.
May 6, 2021
A three and a half star book. An important and interesting book, but not an enjoyable one. A book about mental health really.
April 30, 2018
Slow, pondering, lingering. Took me a while to get into it properly but wow. So well written and well constructed. Remarkable! Spotted a brochure for Brighton and Hove City Reads when visiting the art gallery a few weeks back and picked up the novel later that day - so glad I did, because this was a truly fantastic reading experience.
June 9, 2025
I recently reviewed the 'Gustav Sonata' by Rose Tremain ecstatically - I don't see any point in repeating myself, but this novel is hypnotically beautiful. If you need reviews try the following (there are loads more if you Google):
https://bookertalk.com/sacred-country...
https://savidgereads.wordpress.com/20...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
Other reviews and comments:
"Hypnotic...Curiously beautiful and strikingly original" - Spectator
"Brilliant...A strong, complex, unsentimental novel" - Times Literary Supplement
"Rose Tremain writes comedy that can break your heart...Funny absorbing and quite original. I've read nothing to touch it this year" - Literary Review
Stephen Dobyns writes for the New York Times, "a book that makes us feel good about the state of fiction in an uncertain market".
Novelist Lynn Freed observes "The writing... is sheer delight. It is skilled, intelligent storytelling at its best".
https://bookertalk.com/sacred-country...
https://savidgereads.wordpress.com/20...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
Other reviews and comments:
"Hypnotic...Curiously beautiful and strikingly original" - Spectator
"Brilliant...A strong, complex, unsentimental novel" - Times Literary Supplement
"Rose Tremain writes comedy that can break your heart...Funny absorbing and quite original. I've read nothing to touch it this year" - Literary Review
Stephen Dobyns writes for the New York Times, "a book that makes us feel good about the state of fiction in an uncertain market".
Novelist Lynn Freed observes "The writing... is sheer delight. It is skilled, intelligent storytelling at its best".
Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews