Award-winning author Mollie Mathews returns with a luminous, lyrical tale of difference, destiny, and the hidden magic within.
★★★★★ "A stunningly written story that is a testament to those who live on the Autism spectrum or those who live with Asperger's."
A luminous, lyrical tale of difference, destiny, and the hidden magic within.
Born in 1965 under the sign of Libra, Clarissa always felt different. While the world told her to dim her light and never outshine her brother-the golden child-she dreamed of flying carpets, painted skies, and colors that refused to stay silent. Sensitive to sound, touch, and truth, Clarissa lived in a world that felt too loud, too sharp, too much.
Decades later, on the cusp of her sixtieth birthday, a forgotten CD reveals a secret that transforms her life: she may have lived her whole life on the autism spectrum, with traits of Asperger's that were never named. Suddenly, her sensitivity, her obsessions, her way of seeing patterns others miss-all make sense. What once felt like exile becomes her greatest gift: her imagination, her fearlessness, and her childlike joy.
For readers of Isabel Allende, Paulo Coelho, and Jessie Burton (The Miniaturist), this mystical, transformative novel celebrates the courage to live brightly, authentically, and without apology.
🌙 If you've ever been told you were "too sensitive," "too much," or "too different," Clarissa's journey will awaken the sky inside your own soul.
"A stunningly written story that is a testament to those that live on the Autism spectrum or those that live with Asperger's. The story revolves around Clarissa who has always known herself to be different in comparison to her brother and others around her. To Clarissa the world is overwhelming, too loud, too touchy, too sharp. Clarissa is sensitive to the world but she has her own dreams filled with brightness, bold colors, flying carpets and brilliant artful skies. As Clarissa nears her 60th chapter around the sun, a CD that had been consigned to oblivion resurfaces. This forgotten about CD from the past, sheds light on why Clarissa has felt the way she has for practically her whole life. Out of the blue things click into place and all of Clarissa's quirks, sensitivities and 'otherness' suddenly make sense to her. Clarissa is given the power to transform from being on the outer to changing her destiny and discovering herself and how special she truly is. Mollie Matthews sets the story in 1965 when being on the Autism spectrum was not as widely discussed as it is today. A beautifully written, mellifluous story that reminds us that being unique is a good thing and that we all have magic within ourselves."
