From her earliest years Gunilla Gerland knew that she was 'different'. In this remarkable book she writes with poignant clarity of a childhood in which, surrounded by her family, she was nevertheless alone. Her behaviour, reactions, feelings, fears and perceptions, prompted by inner compulsions she could not control, provoked constant scolding, rejection and blank incomprehension. Unable to function like other people, she struggled in vain to fit in, to be recognised, despite her differences, as 'a real person'. No one seemed able to realise that she could not help being the way she was. Only in her twenties did the author discover that she had a form of autism known as Asperger Syndrome. She read avidly on the subject; at last she could hold her head up, confident that her 'differentness' was due to a know and identifiable biological disorder. Offering startling and deeply moving insights, "A Real Person" will be of immense value to families and professionals striving to understand autistic people in their care. But it also stands firmly on its own as a work of the highest literary quality, a beautifully written account of an agonising childhood.