Bliss Road - by Martha Engber (Paperback)

About the Book

Martha uses personal anecdotes and research about the emergence of ASD as a diagnosis to explain the psychological, emotional and social challenges she faced as a child, then as an adult and parent.

Book Synopsis

Martha Engber lives a charmed life in the suburbs with a husband and two kids where everything is fine, fine, fine until suddenly she's... completely broken. She's so used to lying to others and herself that she has no idea who she really is or how she feels about anything. What happened? Why is her life smooth driving one minute and totaled the next?

In this sometimes funny, often devastating memoir, Martha describes the arduous journey toward discovering the invisible roadblock that ran her life off course: her psychological distress is the result of being the neurotypical daughter of a dad with undiagnosed Autism Spectrum Disorder, a condition that affects over 75 million people worldwide.

Martha uses personal anecdotes and research about the emergence of ASD as a diagnosis to explain the psychological, emotional and social challenges she faced as a child, then as an adult and parent. Along the way, she shows the sometimes harrowing, but eminently rewarding, route others can follow to chase down the source of their family angst and so reach a more blissful future.

Review Quotes

"Bliss Road is a raw and real memoir, illuminating the complicated path of a neurodiverse family fixed in a legacy between trepidation and tenderness; a legacy that may well have repeated itself had it not been for Engber's ability to face the mirror and find the answers to the questions she didn't even know she had about autism and the power of love." Liane Holliday Willey, author of Pretending to be Normal: Living with Aspergers Syndrome

"With bracing honesty, and rare insight, Martha Engber's courageous, highly readable account of her experience as the child of a parent with undiagnosed ASD is compelling, joyous and inspiring.'" Byddi Lee, author of The Rejuvenation Trilogy

"In Bliss Road, Martha Engber takes the reader on a candid and poetic journey through her life with a neuroatypical father. A glorious blend of insights and wisdom, this memoir may just be what we need to deepen our human capacity for love and understanding." Imi Lo, author of Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity: How to Manage Intense Emotions as a Highly Sensitive Person

"Engber skillfully integrates current knowledge about autism into her own engaging story as the child of a parent on the autism spectrum, giving readers an understanding of the challenges those children face-and making the case for further research." Patti Isaacs, author of The Second Long March: Memoir from a Witness to China's Transformation