Why this book exists
A focused place to understand what is happening
Cordelia was, everyone always said, no trouble at all. It took her forty years to understand that this was not a compliment. She had grown up as the older sister of a brother born with severe disabilities, requiring round-the-clock care. From her earliest memories, the household had organised itself, necessarily and entirely understandably, around her brother and his needs, the appointments, the therapies, the equipment, the crises, the sheer relentless labour of caring for a profoundly disabled child. And in the midst of all this, there was Cordelia: healthy, capable, bright, and, above all, no trouble. The child who could be relied upon to manage herself. The child whose needs could wait, and then wait some more, and then simply not be mentioned..
The writing is designed to reduce shame, bring the underlying pattern into view and give you practical ways to respond without pretending that every life follows the same formula.
