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  • Strong Female Character

  • Written by: Fern Brady
  • Narrated by: Fern Brady
  • Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (36 ratings)

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Strong Female Character

Written by: Fern Brady
Narrated by: Fern Brady
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Publisher's Summary

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • “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

Scottish comedian Fern Brady was told she couldn't be autistic because she'd had loads of boyfriends and is good at eye contact. In this frank and surreal memoir, she delivers a sharp and often hilarious portrait of neurodivergence and living unmasked.

Finalist for the Porchlight Business Book Award • A Harper’s Bazaar Best Book of the Year

After 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. But it took until she was thirty-four for her to get diagnosed.

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. Coming from a working-class Scottish Catholic family, Fern wasn’t exactly poised to receive an open-minded acceptance of her neurodivergence. 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.

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. 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.

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.

©2023 Fern Brady (P)2023 Random House Audio
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What the critics say

"Strong Female Character is a testament to Brady’s quality of said character, her tenacity in the face of a world not yet ready to grapple with all she brings to it."New York Times

"Brady is very funny. But she responsibly and powerfully intends more than just a sad-but-humorous recounting of her experience.... Though Brady is annoyed that we’re this far into the 21st century and she still has to explain all this, any reader of Strong Female Character will be glad she did."Washington Post

"Strong Female Character is a testament to the importance of self-knowledge. 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. 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

What listeners say about Strong Female Character

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“i realized there were more than one of us”

so comforting to hear many of my experiences reflected strongly from a comedian whose work i’ve enjoyed for years

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Outstanding!

Fern’s brutal honesty and matter of fact delivery is so incredibly relatable. She’s clearly an intelligent woman and I’m so glad she chose to share her experiences in this way.

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Relatable!

Suspecting I’m Autistic myself this memoir is the most relatable thing I’ve come across in all my research.

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Understanding Yourself is a Messy Journey

And it never really ends. It's harder when nobody around you understands you, and when you don't understand them. Fern does an amazing job shedding light on feelings that many neurodivergent people feel every day, and hides nothing in the process. The honesty on display here is more than a filter-less walk down memory lane. It's a fearless plowing-through of that which has shaped a great comic into who she is today. Most importantly, however, Strong Female Character is about figuring out how to be who she is, while still being who she wants to be, when so many parts of herself (and her past) are fighting against her.

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Honesty only an autistic person could muster

I have always loved Fern Brady as a comedian, so I was intrigued when I found out she was autistic, As a most likely undiagnosed autistic woman myself, I have always found her very relatable. In this book she shares blunt honest details about the struggles of coping with undiagnosed autism. Many of these experiences were very different from mine, but many were so familiar they brought me to tears. It was downright therapeutic to listen to someone discuss so openly the things that the rest of the world wants you to hide or lie about because it makes them uncomfortable. Thank you Fern for making me feel like I am not alone.

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So good!!

I listened to this so fast!! Such a good listen, and so enlightening.
Thanks Fern for being vulnerable you’re helping a lot of us neurodivergents.

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Wish it was longer :)

J’ai hâte d’en lire plus de ça part. Ça ressemble à un volume 1 . C’est la partie avant diagnostique et un peu après mais il reste la partie que on est mieux après quelques années.

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Raw and revealing

I loved this book. The accent made it a bit hard to understand in the beginning but I adjusted. Such an amazing account of the author’s story and journey. Very enlightening. Thank you!!

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Unflinchingly honest, heartbreaking and hilarious

I cannot recommend this book enough. Brilliantly written and wonderfully performed - Brady gives an unfettered look into her world as an autistic woman. Many times her experiences are so terribly painful, but Brady's wit and pragmatism brings levity to her myriad of struggles. Her vulnerability in this book is staggering but pays off. It has very much opened my eyes to privileges I enjoy that I have never even considered. Brava!

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informative andnimpressive

enjoyed this greatly, there were hard parts, sad parts, joyful and interesting parts.. it explained things I had never known or considered and appreciate Ferns openness on her life.

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