When Women Were Dragons

Alex Green grows up in a world where women can become dragons, yet acknowledging that fact is often less acceptable than pretending it never happened. The mass transformation of 1955 changes her family, including the disappearance of an aunt whose absence adults insist on explaining away. Alex is left to navigate grief, expectation and the fierce curiosity of her younger cousin, Beatrice. As she grows older, her own desires challenge the narrow future others consider appropriate for her. The silence around dragons becomes inseparable from the silence around women’s anger, freedom and love. Understanding her family requires Alex to question what a society loses when it demands that people make themselves smaller.