Being Emily

{{short description|2012 novel by Rachel Gold}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox book

| image = Being Emily.jpg

| caption =

| author = Rachel Gold

| illustrator =

| cover_artist = Kristin Smith

| country = United States

| language = English

| genre = Young adult

| publisher = Bella Books

| pub_date = 2012

| media_type = Print and mobile

| pages = 264

| isbn = 978-1594932830

| oclc =

| dewey =

| congress =

| followed_by =

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Being Emily is a 2012 novel by Rachel Gold. Gold, who has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Religious Studies from Macalester College and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Hamline University, spent a decade as a print reporter in the LGBT community and is currently a marketing strategist and public speaker.

It is the first young adult novel written from a transgender girl's point of view.{{cite web|title=Is Rachel Gold's "Being Emily" the first young adult novel to tell the story of a transgender girl from her perspective?|url=http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/arts/books/column/courtney-algeo/being-emily-rachel-gold-review}} In the story, Emily (born Christopher) begins to come out during her junior year of high school, first to her girlfriend Claire and then, with the help of an understanding therapist, to her family.{{cite web |url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/2012/09/being-emily-by-rachel-gold/ |date=12 September 2012 |title='Being Emily' by Rachel Gold |first=Lydia |last=Harris |work=Lambda Literary |access-date=12 June 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/saying-something-trans-characters-in-ya-fiction/ |title=Saying Something: Trans Characters in YA Fiction |first=Clarence Harlan |last=Orsi |date=16 July 2019 |work=Los Angeles Review of Books |access-date=12 June 2020}}

Lydia Harris describes the novel as "extraordinarily poignant" and says that "the chapters chronicling [Emily's friend] Claire's struggles with religious, emotional and social mores are worth the price of this novel alone."