It all began when Chernin's daughter had gone off to college; her marriage was wobbly, and the passion she had always longed for eluded her. She was restless, and when she thought about her life, she thought she wanted something else. She didn't know then that Hadamar, a beautiful, charismatic woman, would inspire her to ditch her female ways. Before long, she finds herself taking on characteristics that can only be described as like those of a boy. She becomes daring and impetuous - reckless, even.

And she falls in love. This time around, though, she doesn't surrender to passion; she pursues it - as a boy would. There's one small catch; Hadamar has her own secret. In a dramatic denouement, Chernin learns a lesson in love and discovers the risks of becoming a boy.

By turns provocative and insightful, My Life as a Boy is a story of a woman pursuing what she wants without hesitation, trying to understand what happens between the first stirrings of desire and the determination to possess the object of that desire. In this work of nonfiction that unfolds as dramatically as a novel, Chernin charges right into the center of a taboo to reveal what it's like for a woman to discover another part of her nature.