Title: Strong Female Character

Author: Fern Brady

Genre: Memoir/Nonfiction

Publisher: Brazen

Publication Date: 16th February 2023

Rating: ✶✶✶✶✶

Cover:

Summary:

A summary of my book:

1. I’m diagnosed with autism 20 years after telling a doctor I had it.

2. My terrible Catholic childhood: I hate my parents etc.

3. My friendship with an elderly man who runs the corner shop and is definitely not trying to groom me. I get groomed.

4. Homelessness.

5. Stripping.

6. More stripping but with more nervous breakdowns.

7. I hate everyone at uni and live with a psycho etc.

8. REDACTED as too spicy.

9. After everyone tells me I don’t look autistic, I try to cure my autism and get addicted to Xanax.

10. REDACTED as too embarrassing.

Review:

I first came across Fern Brady on the television show, Taskmaster, in which she was of course extremely funny! So, when I saw that she was releasing a memoir I was keen to give it a read. My expectations were high as I knew how hilarious Brady is, but I have to say, even my high expectations were thoroughly surpassed. Strong Female Character is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read and has shot straight to the top of my favourite books of 2023.

Strong Female Character is about Fern’s life, but the focus is very much on how being autistic affects every aspect of that life. She was diagnosed as an adult after years of misdiagnosis and frankly pretty shocking medical care, something that, as a young woman with chronic pain and illnesses, is something I have a huge amount of sympathy for. I have to confess that my understanding of autism and it’s symptoms, especially in women , was pretty basic but Strong Female Character has totally changed that. I learned so much through reading Fern’s story – which she tells with an intelligence and candour that I am slightly in awe of. She is also incredibly brave for writing such an unfiltered account of certain things that must have been difficult to write about. This is a book I will be recommending to everyone I know and I genuinely think anyone would benefit from reading it for it’s profound and powerful message. It is also, like Fern, hilarious at times. Strong Female Character is funny, dark, brutal, heartbreaking and so incredibly smart. Please read it!

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Thank you so much to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me on this tour and organising it. I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.

Buy the book:

Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwell’s