A Room Called Earth

- Blurb -

A brilliant debut from a neurodivergent author that shows the magical, sensitive world of a woman on the autism spectrum. A young woman gets ready to go to a party. She arrives, feels overwhelmed, leaves, and then returns. Minutely attuned to the people who come into her view, and alternating between alienation and profound connection, she is hilarious, self-aware, sometimes acerbic, and painfully honest. And by the end of the night, she' s shown us something radical about love, loss, and the need to belong. ' A daring, prismatic novel about seeing and being seen, and the hunger for universal connection. Madeleine Ryan' s clarity of vision imbues the ordinary - a party, strangers, inner-city streets - with cosmic significance. I came out of A Room Called Earth with fresh eyes and a full heart. ' -Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of Beautiful Revolutionary' In this precious gemstone of a novel, Ryan communicates a lush, raw, addictive truth with her prosaic yet theatrical prose, her protagonist witnessing the world in a way that had me pausing for long deep breaths after most chapters. The world of this book is the world of a woman who knows herself because she has needed to, and a woman who many might recognise, despite her oneness. Reading Ryan is to be taught and to be refreshed, and I will return to her pages in the future, to remind me of the beauty there is in my own room called earth. ' -Laura McPhee-Browne, author of Cherry Beach' M uch of the novel' s appeal comes from its illustration and examination of the narrator' s blunt perspective on life and specifically social interaction . . . Ryan' s ability to convey her narrator' s unique perspective makes it a worthwhile read. ' -Kirkus Reviews