During the first thirty years of her life, comedy script writer Sara Gibbs had been labelled a lot of things – a cry baby, a scaredy cat, a spoiled brat, a weirdo, a show off – but more than anything else, she’d been called a Drama Queen. No one understood her behaviour, her meltdowns or her intense emotions. She felt like everyone else knew a social secret that she hadn’t been let in on; as if life was a party she hadn’t been invited to. Why was everything so damn hard? Little did Sara know that, at the age of thirty, she would be given one more label that would change her life’s trajectory forever. That one day, sitting next to her husband in a clinical psychologist’s office, she would learn that she had never been a drama queen, or a weirdo, or a cry baby, but she had always been autistic.
‘It has taken me several years of exploration, but I am at a place now where I see autism as neither an affliction nor a superpower. It’s just the blueprint for who I am. There is no cure, but that’s absolutely fine by me. To cure me of my autism would be to cure me of myself.’
– Sara Gibbs, Drama Queen
Drama Queen is both a tour inside one autistic brain and a declaration that a diagnosis on the spectrum, with the right support, accommodations and understanding, doesn’t have to be a barrier to life full of love, laughter and success. It is the story of one woman trying to fit into a world that has often tried to reject her and, most importantly, it’s about a life of labels, and the joy of ripping them off one by one.
Drama Queen is available on Amazon in Waterstones and in all major bookshops. It is currently available in hardback format as well as e-book and audiobook. Your local independent bookshop may stock Drama Queen – if they don’t, most can order in on request. Drama Queen is currently published in the UK and Commonwealth – please watch this space for further translations and markets.
“Incredibly intelligent… I cried laughing” – Shaparak Khorsandi
“Funny and uplifting… like a long chat with a beloved old friend” – Isy Suttie
“An extraordinary read – intriguing, enlightening and funny” – Jan Ravens
“Absolutely nails the disorienting experience of growing up with undiagnosed autism” – Joanne Limburg
“Will resonate with anyone who has ever felt misunderstood” – Rosie Holt
“A fast and hilarious memoir about love and acceptance. Razor sharp and so very touching” – Lizzy Dent
“Sparklingly hilarious.” – Desiree Burch
“Full of warmth, insight, heartache and seemingly effortless humour. It grabs you by the lapels and doesn’t let go” –Nick Pettigrew
“A hilarious, heartbreaking memoir” – The Times
“Both funny and fascinating in equal measure” – The Jewish Chronicle