DailyMail.co.uk – By Val Hennessy
Becoming Drusilla by Richard Beard (Harvill Secker, £12.99)
For years, Richard Beard has enjoyed spontaneous outdoor holidays with his biker pal, Drew.
Together they go hill-climbing, canoeing and cycling, revelling in the muddy slog to the next pub, the pints, the blokeish jokes, the stinky two-man tent, and the general Boy Scoutishness and larking about away from wives, children and jobs.
In everyday life, Beard is a writer, while Drew works in the boiler rooms of cross-Channel ferries. And then, out of the blue, Drew drops the bombshell. He announces that he is having a sex change and that by their next trip he’ll be Dru (short for Drusilla).