“Törnvall has written an important, illuminating first book, one that deserves to sit alongside the best insider accounts of autism … [The Autists] should be required reading for all parents, partners, friends and colleagues of anyone on the autism spectrum, as well as a road map for autistic women navigating the neurotypical world.”
— James Cook, Times Literary Supplement
“Journalist Törnvall seeks comfort in the stories of other autistic women throughout history in her illuminating debut … An insightful and involving narrator, Törnvall movingly explores how women with so-called “high-functioning autism” persisted in harnessing their abilities whether or not they lived in a time that recognised their neurotype. This winning combination of memoir and cultural history stimulates and entertains in equal measure.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Personal, entertaining, educational.”
—M Magasin
“She writes with clarity, the style is characterized with rigor and clear pedagogics, making it easy for the reader to learn a subject that for many has only had a stereotypical ‘Rain Man’-connotations.”
—Svenska Dagbladet
“Even if you ought to avoid hyping the autistic as superheroes, Törnvall shows that conformity to the norm is a ludicrous waste of the power in these beautiful brains.”
—Dagens Nyheter
“[E]ven today, the adult autistic woman is a person who is difficult to grasp. She’s our civilizations’ elusive shadow. She’s the topic of of the thought-provoking book, The Autists>.”
—Expressen
“A carefully and intelligently composed book that fills a gaping hole … It is part of a big knowledge building that is ultimately about getting girls and women on the spectrum made visible and noticed.”
—Dagens ETC
“The Autists is a medical, cultural, psychological history of autism research, diagnosis, and representation. It is framed as a memoir, but goes far beyond that … This will be an eye-opening and useful book for people with preconceptions about autism and autists … This is an excellent book to help you understand how autism works, full of clear and entertaining examples and anecdotes, beautifully written and translated (by Alice E. Olsson) so that it reads smoothly and swiftly. Whether you are neurodivergent, know someone who is, or are simply interested in seeing the world as it really is, there is a lot to be learned from this short entertaining book.”
—Henry Oliver, The Common Reader
“Törnvall was diagnosed as autistic at the age of forty-two, and The Autists takes her own experience as a lens through which to explore the phenomena and experiences of autistic women more generally. Its research is wide-ranging … I was particularly delighted by Törnvall’s chapter on language, ‘Too Much Faith in Words’”
—Caitlin McGregor, Sydney Review of Books
