A Normal Family, by Henry Normal & Angela Pell

Subheaded “Everyday adventures with our autistic son”, A Normal Family straight away nestles into your clavicle and goes straight to your heart before you’ve even realised it with it’s heart-warming honesty and tender candour.

Roughly arranged in chronological order, with the odd anecdote out of the timeline, this is Henry and Angela’s story and poetry about their relationship with the very special boy that is their son Johnny. He is also “mildly severely autistic”.

Both authors are established as skilled writers already, he as (amongst a catalogue of credits) writer of The Royle Family and Alan Partridge, and she as a respected screenwriter. And it is warming and a credit to how well they use the tools in their writers’ tool-boxes to read their first-hand accounts of the love, fear, struggle, and – most importantly – humour with which they recount their lives together and with Johnny. At each point making efforts to never speak on behalf of their son, but always to show him the utmost respect.

As an individual who found Mark Haddon’s ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime’ a catalyst to the falling scales from my own eyes to an understanding of my own family member on the autistic spectrum, ‘A Normal Family’ (although not fictionalised) had the same effect is facilitating a deeper understanding for the parents of an autistic child. In being so very individual, tenderly opening a very private door to a personal story, they never preach but simply share their own learned wisdoms in a very accessible and enjoyable fashion.

Henry Normal and Angela Pell are sharing their’s and Johnny’s stories, lessons and truths ostensibly to offer support to those parents with a child on the autistic spectrum just starting out on their own journey. However, every family is a ‘normal’ family, every relationship tested multiple times. In being granted glimpses of this delightful family I find there to be great joy, sadness, and most of all a huge amount of heart that feels simply like the honest non-verbal strength of being held by one you love, and the counting so clearly of small blessings that is relevant to anyone reading this book – whatever their relationship with autism happens to be. A stunning read that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved a three-dimensional individual.

Published by Two Roads, out now

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