Odd Girl Out cover art

Odd Girl Out

An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Odd Girl Out

By: Laura James
Narrated by: Louiza Patikas
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £10.99

Buy Now for £10.99

About this listen

What do you do when you wake up in your mid-forties and realize you've been living a lie your whole life? Do you tell? Or do you keep it to yourself?

Laura James found out that she was autistic as an adult, after she had forged a career for herself, married twice and raised four children. Odd Girl Out tracks the year of Laura's life after she receives a definitive diagnosis from her doctor, as she learns that 'different' doesn't need to mean 'less' and how there is a place for all of us, and it's never too late to find it.

Laura draws on her professional and personal experiences and reflects on her life in the light of her diagnosis, which for her explains some of her differences; why, as a child, she felt happier spinning in circles than standing still and why she has always found it difficult to work in places with a lot of ambient noise.

Although this is a personal story, the book has a wider focus too, exploring reasons for the lower rate of diagnosed autism in women and a wide range of topics including eating disorders and autism, marriage and motherhood.

The memoir, Odd Girl Out, gives a timely account from a woman negotiating the autistic spectrum, from a poignant and personal perspective.

 Children's Health Mental Health Neurodiversity People with Disabilities Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships Health Autism Special need Inspiring Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

There are so many myths about what it means to be autistic and Laura tells her story beautifully and truthfully. You will live every moment with her, feel her pain and want to right the wrongs. Some books make a big difference, this is one of them. It should be read by everyone. (Natasha Harding, the Sun)
A moving, lucid account of feeling different and ‘other’, Odd Girl Out is an invaluable insight that allows you to see the world through autistic eyes. (Get the Gloss)
Laura James has dug deep into her 'differentness' and emerged with a book of breathtaking honesty, humour and insight. Odd Girl Out is a brilliant antidote to all the cliches and misinformation surrounding autism (Stephen Sackur, journalist and presenter of BBC HARDtalk)
An important, touching and incredibly honest book with a wry sense of humour, which challenges the preconceived ideas people have about autistic life. (Rachael Lucas, author of Sealed With a Kiss and The State of Grace)
All stars
Most relevant
most compelling brilliant read. i am a 54 year old female undiagnosed & searching for help. I know at least now, after reading this that I'm not alone & that there can be help for me in the big wide world. Thank you so much Laura James for telling your story.

A must read. giving hope for autistic adults.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
really enjoyed this - it resonated a lot with my experiences as an autistic person and what I went through when I was diagnosed.

the naration is easy to listen to, the intonation suggests to me the narator is not autistic; this would probably liven it up a bit for a non autistic audience - but for me as an autistic person it felt slightly inauthentic in terms of how and when different elements of intonation were applied to express emotions when the author wasn't likely to express them in that way, which unbalanced it a bit for me but I think it would appeal to a neurotypical listener.

in terms of understanding the experience of living 40+ years as an undiagnosed autistic person and being unaware of why so many things in life are so hard - the book does an excellent job. the author explains the transition through the assessment process and her own transition from trying to hide the autism to accepting who she is.

I'm not so keen on the reliance of the psychologist Tony Attwood; a lot of his work (and perspectives about autism) is out of date and in professional spaces he frequently mocks autistic people to make points about "autistic deficits" but this is somewhat toned down in the book by the way it read and by not having him laughing repeated.

overall a great book for anyone exploring what it might like for themselves or a loved one as they transition through a diagnstic process and move on with their life into a space of self acceptance and undoing the life time of damage that is common for autistic people.

good and relatable to life as an autistic person

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Laura James is brave and open, she freely shares her experiences of life as an autistic woman.

Great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing book. It gives invaluable insight in how life on spectrum feels for the author. I found to be very educational and interesting.

Narration was good, but I found it odd that narrator decided to give different voices and accents to quotes from scientific literature or actual interviews with professionals. To me it felt as though narrator was mocking them.

Insightful and educational

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I fount this book relatable in some ways . I'm an autistic lady and mummy of an autistic child and I enjoyed this book . I didn't giv 5 stars as the talk of illnesses gave me anxiety. this is no fault of the book its just me and my brain. would recomend

relatable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews