neurodiversity

I enjoy Sally Hepworth’s writing, so I was excited to get her latest novel The Good Sister from Net Galley. I enjoyed the story, which has some twists to it. To be honest, even if it wasn’t a mystery and just a straightforward story, I would have enjoyed it as I loved the character of Fern – a neurodiverse librarian who meets a young man as unique as she is and falls in love. For me, Fern’s story was enough for an entire novel – suspense wasn’t needed!

This was yet another book that I couldn’t put down and read straight through!

Here’s the overview:

Description

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A stunningly clever thriller made doubly suspenseful by not one, but two unreliable narrators.” — People

Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters in The Good Sister.

There’s only been one time that Rose couldn’t stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be…dangerous.

When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.

When I saw that Net Galley was offering this book, I signed up for it right away.

Here’s the description from Net Galley:

Description

A groundbreaking book that upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently.

What is autism? A lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. WIRED reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.

Going back to the earliest days of autism research and chronicling the brave and lonely journey of autistic people and their families through the decades, Silberman provides long-sought solutions to the autism puzzle, while mapping out a path for our society toward a more humane world in which people with learning differences and those who love them have access to the resources they need to live happier, healthier, more secure, and more meaningful lives.

Along the way, he reveals the untold story of Hans Asperger, the father of Asperger’s syndrome, whose “little professors” were targeted by the darkest social-engineering experiment in human history; exposes the covert campaign by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner to suppress knowledge of the autism spectrum for fifty years; and casts light on the growing movement of “neurodiversity” activists seeking respect, support, technological innovation, accommodations in the workplace and in education, and the right to self-determination for those with cognitive differences.

**This was a very readable and highly interesting book, covering the “history” of autism and focusing on real life stories. The subtitle of this book is “The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity” – which is apt as it works to have reader see autism and and Asperger’s as a type of diversity as opposed to being disorders or disabilities. I heartily concur with this — I’ve often found myself saying “we’re all somewhere on a continuum” (and that was well before ‘being on the continuum’ was a “thing”, if you know what I mean). For those who aren’t familiar with the psychological/historical background of autism, it is very thorough and easy to read. This is the type of book that anyone from a lay person, to a parent/family member of an autistic individual, to a college student can read. I have to say, though, that if you are a psychologist or highly read in the field, you might not find anything new.

It’s also interesting to me that the latest manual for diagnosing (DSM-V) has removed the category of Asperger’s. It has combined several different “types” of autism under the umbrella term “ASD (autism spectrum disorder)”. You can read more about that here at http://www.dsm5.org

Highly recommended read for those who want to understand more about autism and its history.

Thank you, Net Galley, for my e-copy!