From the Chapters website: 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 shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. Understanding the world from his perspective felt bewildering, nearly impossible. 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 died.

Now she’s alone in a cottage on Nantucket, separated from her husband, desperate to understand the meaning of her son’s short life, when a chance encounter with another woman facing her own loss brings Anthony alive again for Olivia in a most unexpected way.

Beth Ellis’s entire life changed with a simple note: “I’m sleeping with Jimmy.” Fourteen years of marriage. Three beautiful daughters. Yet even before her husband’s affair, she had never felt so alone. Heartbroken, she finds the pieces of the vivacious, creative person she used to be packed away in a box in her attic. For the first time in years, she uncaps her pen, takes a deep breath, and begins to write. The young but exuberant voice that emerges onto the page is a balm to the turmoil within her, a new beginning, and an astonishing bridge back to herself.

In a piercing story about motherhood, autism, and love, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova offers us two unforgettable women on the verge of change and the irrepressible young boy whose unique wisdom helps them both find the courage to move on.

I needed this book. I need the strength of the two women. I needed the friendships. I need to read about the magic of writing. I needed to read about love. I read about the pain and loss that infidelity and a broken marriage can cause a family and how you can find yourself again after feeling lost in a relationship. The epilogue had me in tears over and over again. I may have now read it 5 or 6 times.

I recommend this book to everyone who loves a heart warming tale. If you love writing and books you’ll love the writing theme of the novel. This is now my third Lisa Genova book. I’ve read Still Alice and Left Neglected and just love her style of writing and insight into the workings of the brain and it’s afflictions at times.

If you care for anyone with autism my heart goes out to you. You are stronger than you know and from reading this book I can now admire your strength and dedication and unconditional love for another human being no matter how they show you love back.