Love Anthony - Lisa Genova

I'm always hearing about how my brain doesn't work right ... But it doesn't feel broken to me.

Olivia Donatelli's dream of a 'normal' life was shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. He didn't speak. He hated to be touched. He almost never made eye contact. And just as Olivia was starting to realize that happiness and autism could coexist, Anthony was gone.

Now she's alone on Nantucket, desperate to find meaning in her son's short life, when a chance encounter with another women brings Anthony alive again in a most unexpected way. In a piercing story about motherhood, autism, and love Lisa Genova offers us two unforgettable women who discover the small but exuberant voice that helps them both find the answers they need.

Published by: Simon & Schuster UK - Fiction

Year: 2013 - Paperback

Pages: 302

ISBN: 978-1-47111-327-7

'Love Anthony' is number 19 from my yet to be read bookshelf.  As I have a son with autism myself I was drawn to this novel by it's content.  Lisa Genova must have carried out extensive research  for this book with the accuracy it shows for living with a child with autism.  This is especially borne out in the way that her character  Beth writes her story from the perspective of a child with autism, a story that Olivia recognizes as her own son Anthony's story. Anthony had died 5 years ago.  The one thing Anthony was never able to do whilst he was alive was to articulate his feelings about being a child with autism.  Since his passing Olivia has always felt his presence and when she agrees to read Beth's novel she begins to realize that some how Anthony is telling his story through Beth's writing.  

This a beautifully written novel by Lisa Genova and one I would recommend to read this summer.

Happy reading one & all

Mx