Published in 2000, The Danish Girl is an American novel by author David Ebershoff. A novel of realistic fiction, the main character becomes one of the first people to go through sexual reassignment surgery, a surgical transformation for someone to physically become the opposite gender. The novel was written in a time, although not that long ago, when persons that were transgender were widely discriminated and gay marriage was frowned upon, so the novel, which was turned into a 2015 film, was eye-opening to its audiences. The name character is named Lili Elbe (a real person living in the early 1900's and late 1800's), and the author makes sure to point out that this is a fictional account of her.
David Ebershoff is an American writer and teacher, and was born on January 17, 1969. His first novel was Danish Girl, and it turned out to be his most successful. Since the publication of Danish Girl, he has written several short stories that have further inspired the LGBTQ community.
In 2015, the novel was adapted into a movie starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander. It received average reviews, scoring 68% on the popular movie review website ‘Rotten Tomatoes’.
