When Cris Beam first moved to Los Angeles, she thought she might put in just a few hours volunteering at a school for transgender kids while she got settled. Instead she found herself drawn deeply into the pained and powerful group of transgirls she discovered. InTransparentshe intro­duces four of them--Christina, Domineque, Foxxjazell, and Ariel--and shows us their world, a dizzying mix of familiar teenage cliques and crushes with far less familiar challenges like how to morph your body on a few dollars a day. Funny, heartbreaking, defiant, and sometimes defeated, the girls form a singular community. But they struggle valiantly to resolve the gap between the way they feel inside and the way the world sees them--a struggle we can all identify with.   Beam's careful reporting, sensitive writing, and intimate relationship with her characters placeTransparent in the ranks of the best narrative nonfiction.