Since this was my theme and I was definitely aiming for non-anglocentric authors, I will nominate
Kitchen by the Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto. From the summary
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In Kitchen, a young Japanese woman named Mikage Sakurai struggles to overcome the death of her grandmother. She gradually grows close to one of her grandmother's friends, Yuichi, from a flower shop and ends up staying with him and his transgender mother, Eriko.
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The book works as translation on two levels - the language, and the misunderstood Erika who was struggling with being transgender in 1980s Japan. The book is a slim volume and a very fast read.