Giving Autism Some Love In 'A Room Called Earth'

The new novel A Room Called Earth opens with a young woman as she gets ready for a holiday party in Melbourne, Australia.

Getting ready takes 17 chapters. And every detail has a reason for being. As the narrator tells us, "My inner processes can be visceral to the point of being completely illusory, and absurd."

Writer Madeleine Ryan says there's a word that's important to understanding her book. "And that would be autism ... I'm autistic," she says, "and I was diagnosed as autistic when I was writing the book. So it was a very intimate adventure, writing this book, in lots of ways."