Strong Female Character

By: Fern Brady

Narrated by: Fern Brady

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.

I loved this audiobook!

I loved this audiobook and listened to it very quickly because it was so good! The narration of this audiobook is the best that I have ever heard. The author's voice, accent and delivery of the words were beautiful to hear. I used to live in Edinburgh, so it was really great to hear a familiar accent. The story is very heavy at times because some traumatic life experiences are shared, but it contains incredibly valuable information about the experiences of a late-diagnosed Autistic woman. The book is very, very insightful.

A story everyone should read

I bought this book after hearing Fern on a podcast. She never mentioned her autism, but looking back it would have been odd to bring up. I really liked her interview, and at the end she plugged her new book, I immediately got it without reading what it was about. WOW. I feel as if I’ve learned so much, and her voice and insight to what so many are silently going through is very eye opening. I hope to use this knowledge in future interactions. Thank you for teaching me something I didn’t know I needed to learn.

Relatable to tears

This was such a brilliantly told account of Fern’s lived experience as an autistic female that i A) related to so many of her stories and insights that i was moved to tears & B) am super thankful to have another perspective to share with my people to help them understand me and other unmasking women much better. Fern put so many things I’ve not been able to articulate into skillfully strung words. Not to mention that she is HILARIOUS. I love an Autistic who is amazing at making light of the absurdity of ourselves and the world at large.

blooming amazing

I'm in love with fern's badassery! I'm so grateful she wrote this book for people like me who need to hear what other autistics go through. thank you!

Excellent, & personally highly relatable!

I don’t have the spoons atm to give this book the review it deserves, but I will quickly say I absolutely loved it, it helped me through a period of autistic burnout, and I found it so easily digestible and real, and funny, and heartwarming all at the same time, I’m thinking to ask close loved ones to read if they want to understand me better. Excellent, 10/10!