How does autistic trauma really feel, and how can you find your way through it to a warmer, brighter place?
Written by best-selling author Charlotte Amelia Poe this is a poignant and whimsical exploration of the true autistic experience. Chapter-by-chapter, Poe delicately peels back the layers of what it is to be young and autistic in the modern world, touching on trauma, grief, mortality, love and everything in between.
Charming, thought-provoking and often very funny, this book doesnt offer solutions - it walks next to you, like a friend, through times both dark and light. It reminds you every step that youre not alone.
Charlotte Amelia Poe is an award-winning author. In 2018 they won the Spectrum Art Award and they have since published the best-selling memoir How to be Autistic.
"my brain is wired in a way that lends itself to concepts and ideas that follow strange alleyways to things that cause a vast array of spirals." Was there ever a sentence that captured the wonders of a neurodivergent brain better?
Poes personal account, sometimes poem, sometimes diary, sometimes stream of consciousness, is a literary artwork allowing the reader an insight into an autistic brain. Though just one, as the author is at pains to point out. Poe wanted to create something beautiful and despite their own self-disbelief they have done it.
-- Cathy Wassell, CEO Autistic Girls Network
From the moment Charlotte Amelia Poe asked me in the introduction "can I take your hand, and lead you through the forest? I was smitten with this book.
Its beautifully written and the descriptions are imaginatively potent. It gives you such insight into all the twists and turns the autistic mind will take, in its pain and joy, to accurately describe the truth of life.
I found my autistic experience reflected back in the most beautifully written, intimate way. It felt like being let in on a wonderful shared secret.
-- Andrea Anderson, author of This is Who I Am This is my new Roman Empire. I cannot begin to describe the sense of understanding and peace this book has brought me. I could quote a sentence on every page, and scream it from the rooftops. I feel seen! Poe puts to words the thoughts, feelings, and frustrations that have plagued my mind for YEARS. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. If you are Autistic, or know and love someone who is Autistic, this is a must read! Thank you to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for this ARC. -- Reader Review
