The Lilac People - Milo Todd
Counterpoint Press, 2025
The book is set in pre-war and post-war Germany, and centres around trans people who were clients of Dr. Magnus Hischfeld's Institute for Sexual Sciences. The main characters are a trans man and his common-law cisgender wife.
I am reading it right now. Wow, it is intense! Much of the intensity comes from the parallels to modern times.
I have not finished it yet, so I do not know yet what becomes of the characters. For anyone reading it and being triggered by it, I will share some good news that will not in any way spoil the plot. One person mentioned in the story, Dora Richter, was a real historical person. She is only mentioned; she does not take any part in the action, hence no spoiler here.
The characters in the book believe that Dora was murdered during the sacking of Dr. Hirschfeld's institute. However, the author, in his end-notes, says that she was known to have survived several years after that, but all trace of her was lost, and she was presumed murdered later. However, after the book went to press, the author uncovered new research indicating that she lived on into the 1960s and died at the age of 74. His article on this discovery can be found here:
The Best Part of Researching Trans History Is When I'm WrongWikipedia has information about Dora Richter's life:
Dora Richter - Wikipedia
