Chapters (55)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Cast of Characters
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Part Two
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- A note on the Author
Fingers in my ears, I surveyed the variety of banners being waved from the passing floats: “Coalition of Gay Latinos,” “Association of Leather Slaves,” “Female to Male Transgender Society.” It reminded me of the video store four blocks west of my apartment, where the sci-fi section is not listed in alphabetical order, but contains a zillion subsections, including “Cyber-Punk,” “Time Travel” and “Dystopia.” I think the theory is, if you keep dividing and subdividing a group, eventually the group is one—you and you alone. Then you have a name, your true name to describe what you are.
I don’t believe, nowadays, that Ruby is such a bad description. There are connotations of blood, but also of oranges, the vanity of lipstick, and the many-faceted translucence of the stone itself. Hold me up to the light in order that you might truly see who I am. In the dark, I’m not really me. This is how it will be. I made myself melt and now I get to reconfigure myself as I choose: girl born, not from mother or father, not from nature or nurture, not from a lover who treated her badly or a lover who treated her well. Girl born of the girl herself. Once you have made yourself ugly, succeeded in your harebrained mission beyond your wildest dreams, there is nothing left to do but become beautiful again.
A note on the Author
Emma Forrest
A Londoner living in New York, EMMA FORREST began her writing career at the age of sixteen, as a columnist for The Times of London. Her debut novel, Namedropper, was published in 2000. Now twenty-five, she is adapting Thin Skin as a screenplay and is at work on her third book.