Motherness: A Memoir of Generational Autism, Parenthood, and Radical Acceptance

Green, Julie M.

$16.99

  • A funny, unflinchingly honest, and deeply compassionate memoir about one woman’s experience of raising an autistic child while discovering she is also “on the spectrum”

    Almost 10 years after learning that her son is autistic, Julie Green was also diagnosed, shedding light on a lifetime of feeling othered and misunderstood. Motherness traces Julie’s journey from childhood to early motherhood, when she must advocate for her son while navigating her own struggles.

    With more girls and women being diagnosed in the last decade — many of them later in life — the face of autism is changing. Motherness provides a rich, intensely personal account of what it is like to be autistic, through the lens of both a mother and child. Topics include sensory processing, meltdowns and shutdowns, masking, empathy, alexithymia, bullying, elopement, special interests, disordered eating, gender diversity, twice exceptionality, and more.

    Motherness is a story about accepting your child while learning to accept yourself. This extraordinary, groundbreaking memoir speaks to the great challenges and great joys of autism, providing valuable insights to parents of autistic children, adults newly diagnosed or questioning their place on the spectrum, and anyone seeking a greater understanding of neurodiversity.

    Available September 23, 2025. PRE-ORDER NOW!

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  • Julie M. Green is a Kingston-based writer whose work has been featured in the Washington Post, HuffPost, The Globe and Mail, Today’s Parent, and Chatelaine. She has appeared on CTV, BBC Radio, SiriusXM, and CBC Radio. She writes The Autistic Mom on Substack. For more information, visit JulieMGreen.ca.

  • Published: September 2025

    ISBN: 9781770418028

    Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 in.

    Pages: 288

Reviews

“Julie Green’s debut memoir Motherness is informative, offering interesting insights into a multi-faceted history of autism spectrum disorder, and it is also a deeply felt, personal account of what it is like to raise a neurodivergent child as a neurodivergent mother. But much greater than the sum of those parts, Green’s gorgeous writing carries this deeply human story, which is filled with curiosity, honesty, humour, and above all, love.” —Harriet Alida Lye, author of Natural Killer and Let It Destroy You

“Motherness is powerful, thought-provoking, and frankly, impossible to put down. It left me questioning my own assumptions and considering how we can create a world where autistic individuals are truly understood, supported, and celebrated.” — Ingrid Smith, Parent Educator and Coach

“Motherness is all about loving the child you’re raising and accepting the parent you are. A fiercely honest and wildly compassionate memoir.”—Ann Douglas, author of Parenting Through the Storm

“Motherness is that rarest of books—a memoir that looks inward but also out, shining a light on the personal in a way that refracts out to dazzle us all. In her unflinching and yet wholly tender focus on seeing—seeing and celebrating her child and then also, ultimately, seeing and celebrating herself—Julie Green has charted a path for all of us, parent and non-parent alike, to follow into a brilliant, better world.” —Amanda Leduc, author of Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space