Annabel by Kathleen Winter

When "Wayne" is born in a remote town in Labrador, Canada, his parents have to make an important decision.  The baby is both male and female and although eventually surgery and pills make Wayne male on the outside, his inner female proves to be the stronger pull.  The family dynamic is defined by isolation, disappointment and failed dreams.  The sense of the stark cold landscape is a perfect backdrop for each character's struggle to discover their true self.  Wayne's father hides along the traplines that keep him away from a home he does not understand.  His mother uses alcohol to cushion her sense of failure.  Wayne clings to the memory of a friendship which allowed him to be  completely "one".  Guiding all three through the search is friend and midwife Thomasina who looses one Annabel and clings to the hope that another might exist.