You’ll laugh, cry, be still, and if you’re not autistic-by God you’ll learn. Fizzing with intelligence, it will hit you in the heart, lungs, and liver. Brave doesn’t cover it and I'm not sure what will. “Fern Brady’s book is alive in your hands. Brutal honesty and a talent for storytelling combine to make an insightful memoir that’s not only very funny, but will no doubt provide invaluable moments of recognition for many readers.” ―Rachel Healy, The Guardian Fern Brady is a natural and engaging writer, weaving bleak episodes with moments of pure comedy as she reappraises crucial moments in her life through the lens of her autism diagnosis. “ Strong Female Character is a testament to the importance of self-knowledge. Strong Female Character is a story of how being female can get in the way of being autistic and how being autistic gets in the way of being the 'right kind' of woman. Her chaotic, nonlinear journey-from stripping to getting arrested to finding a lifeline in comedy to her breakout appearance on the Taskmaster TV show as her full, unmasked self-is both a remarkable coming-of-age tale and a dark but poignant tribute to life at the intersection of womanhood and neurodiversity. In a memoir as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, Fern leaves no stone unturned while detailing her futile attempts at employment, her increasingly destructive coping mechanisms, and the meltdowns that left her mind (and apartment) in ruins.

With the piercing clarity and wit that has put her at the top of the British comedy scene, she now reflects on the ways her undiagnosed autism influenced her youth, from the tree that functioned as her childhood best friend to the psychiatric facility where she ended up when neither her parents nor school knew what to do with her.

Coming from a working-class Scottish Catholic family, Fern wasn’t exactly poised to receive an open-minded acceptance of her neurodivergence. Strong Female Character is about the years in between, and the unique combination of sexism and ableism that so often prevents autistic women from getting diagnosed until adulthood. But it took until she was thirty-four for her to get diagnosed. In this frank and surreal memoir, she delivers a sharp and often hilarious portrait of neurodivergence and living unmasked.Īfter reading about autism in her teens, Fern Brady knew instinctively that she had it-autism explained her sensory issues, her meltdowns, her inability to pick up on social cues-and she told her doctor as much.

Scottish comedian Fern Brady was told she couldn't be autistic because she'd had loads of boyfriends and is good at eye contact. “Witty, dry, and gimlet-eyed, this is a necessary corrective in a world where Autistic women are all either written off as quiet and docile, or erased entirely.” -Devon Price, Ph.D., author of Unmasking Autism.

Strong female character fern brady