The Sibling

A memoir which explores sibling relationships as well as quirky family dynamics, autism and the social history of the Seventies and Eighties. The memoir, The Sibling, is based on the author’s experience growing up as the sister of a brother who was diagnosed with autism in 1975, a new term for the time, and how her misfit family navigated the early years of diagnosis. After writing more than 40 memoirs and biographies for others as a ghost writer, Jools decided it was about time she wrote her own, and after meeting other Siblings at an event, decided the time was now. The Sibling is written from a childhood perspective. A solo child whose world is irrevocably altered by the arrival of a changeling, a baby brother who is different from other brothers. The book is about their childhood, growing up in a close, yet separate, relationship during the 1970s and ‘80s. Autism is sometimes described as sensory overload, so the book is thematically organised into that area of experience; Sight and sound - holidays and rain on the caravan roof. Taste - food, home for lunch. Touch and smell - school and play, relationships, diagnosis, the psychologist and a sibling leaving home. The memoir navigates Jools' Northern, working-class background and misfit family, exploring sibling identity and definition through shared family life. It is a book of place, class and time, written with humour and heart.