Author(s): Riva Lehrer

Memoir & Biography

'A hymn to life, love, family, and spirit' DAVID MITCHELL, author of Cloud Atlas

The vividly told, gloriously illustrated memoir of an artist born with disabilities who searches for freedom and connection in a society afraid of strange bodies.

***WINNER OF THE BARBELLION PRIZE***

In 1958, amongst the children born with spina bifida is Riva Lehrer. She endures endless medical procedures and is told she will never have a job, a romantic relationship or an independent life. But everything changes when as an adult Riva is invited to join a group of artists, writers, and performers who are building Disability Culture. Their work is daring, edgy, funny, and dark, and it rejects tropes that define disabled people as pathetic, frightening or worthless, instead insisting that disability is an opportunity for creativity and resistance. Riva begins to paint their portraits - and her art begins to transform the myths she's been told her whole life about her body, her sexuality, and other measures of normal.

'A brilliant book, full of strangeness, beauty, and wonder' Audrey Niffenegger

'Wonderful. An ode to art and the beauty of disability' Cerrie Burnell

'Stunning' Alison Bechdel

***SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD***