Neurodivergence Across Time and Space
This list includes books featuring neurodivergent “coded” characters that were either written before neurodivergence was understood or take place in fantasy worlds where it might not be described in the same way. Historical fiction also welcome!
This list is open for recommendations! Please focus on stories whose characters are not explicitly neurodivergent for one of the above reasons. Most of these books were recommended by readers on Pagebound, and thus I have not read them all.
created by wellreadperi
last updated June, 2026
Comments
Great list! Having just finished it, can I recommend All Systems Red by Martha Wells? It's the first in the Murderbot diaries and Murderbot is autistic as all hell 😂
Added! Thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks for creating the list!! 💕💕
Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li, first book in the Chaos in the Cards series, autism, ADHD, and LGBTQ+ representation, too.
Do you think The Hunger Games count (even tho Katniss is not canonically autistic)?
