Diagnosed with autism in midlife, Joanne Limburg finally felt she could make sense of what marked her as an outsider. In this book Limburg explores women that have been similarly marked ‘outsiders’ through history, and through writing personal letters from she to them, humanises their differences and compassionately explores what made them ‘weird’.
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I love the premise of this book, I love the letters from Limburg that make these historical women current and therefore bringing their differences and ‘weird’-ness into the modern day where perhaps they would have been better understood.
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The themes in this book are of interest to me, particularly the exploration of Limburg’s own experience with autism, as, like so many other things in life, we are still only beginning to understand from the perspective of female presentation. If you have any level of interest in this subject, you will find this book honest and enlightening and you will more than likely want to read more.
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I did feel the letter writing aspect lost it’s way a little, each letter started strongly, but then moved into a tangent that was more focussed on Limburg than on the recipient of the letter. Whilst I enjoyed the content, I did feel it jarred every time Limburg brought the letter back to the subject of the recipient, and the formatting just didn’t flow as nicely together as Limburg perhaps intended. I think with some tweaking this could work so much better and be so much more impactful.
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Limburg is endearing, she writes with humour, and doesn’t shy away from her own experiences. I can’t wait to read more of her books.
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There is so much to love about this book, particularly for anybody already interested in any of the subject matters explored.
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Thank you to @netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book

As a recently diagnosed autistic woman, I was extremely keen to read Letters To My Weird Sisters. Author Joanne Limburg - herself diagnosed with autism as an adult - draws together the stories of four 'weird sisters' from history through a series of letters. Touching on diverse subjects such as disability rights and the history of disability activism, pregnancy and parenthood, and feminism, Limburg demonstrates how the intersection of marginalised identities affect the treatment of women.

I most enjoyed the sections where Limburg draws on her own history and wider feminist theory to explicate the experiences of neuro-divergent people: first person memoir felt more comfortable a vehicle for this kind of exploration than the historical biographical sections, which inevitably required some degree of assumption on the part of Limburg.

Overall, though, a very thought-provoking book which I will return to in future, I am sure.

In Letters to my Weird Sisters the author writes to four women from history who were misunderstood in their time.

It was eye opening and interesting as the author wrote about her own experiences with autism and how she’s been judged for her own ‘weird behaviour’. She was able to relate to the four women, and it was also interesting reading more about women I’ve heard of but maybe knew little about. 

Overall, a wonderful, honest book that I’d recommend. Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a chance to read and review this book.

Letters to My Weird Sisters is a book where the author writes to four women in history who she identifies as her weird sisters. They are women that were outcasted from society and judged for their ‘not normal’ behaviour.

The author is autistic and writes about her own stories and experiences, where she has been judged for her ‘weird’ behaviour. The author relates to the four women and finds common ground with them, she empathises and apologises for the wrongs that these women experienced. I liked how I was able to learn more about women I know of, such as Virginia Woolf and women who I haven’t and how society treated them.
I have not read much on autism and I felt like this was a good starting point for me as it was easy to digest but was still powerful and sometimes harrowing. The authors experience of her feelings of fear, and guilt that she went through during pregnancy and after birth was really vulnerable.

I really enjoyed the way that autism and being judged for ‘weird’ behaviour was linked to feminism. How as women we are held to certain expectations of how we act and behave and are constantly reminded and policed on that. If you do not behave that way, then you are judged and singled out. It also addressed how commonly mothers are blamed for autism in children, which was informative for me to read.

Overall, an interesting book that covered topics that I have not read about before. I would definitely recommend.

In this book, Joanne Limburg writes to four women in history who she calls her 'weird sisters'- women who, for a variety of reasons, were outcasted and judged- and often penalised- for their 'weird' behaviour.

Whether they were women who went against the grain, or women whose identities and behaviours clashed with wider society (Jews and people with mental illness during the time of the Nazis, women behaving 'erratically' during a time of witch purges), Limburg's letters to these women feel like both an apology for how they were treated, and an attempt to find commonality with them. As part of this, Limburg weaves in her own stories and experiences, and, in doing so, makes an often beautiful and heartbreaking plea for understanding and action.

The book has a lot of moments that are not easy to stomach, but are well worth reading. For example, her descriptions of the fear, anxiety and terror she felt during and after pregnancy were harrowing, especially as she detailed how she was worried she would cause her children harm. The way Limburg then turns these moments into a chance for connection with the woman her letter is addressed to, and into something poignant about the changes needed in society to support people going through similar issues around childbirth, is genuinely powerful on several occasions.

It is an interesting book, shedding light in ways that I don't think many books have before.

This is an interestingly formatted own voices book about what it is like to be female and autistic. The book is a series of letters to historical figures who were or suspected to be autistic. The author writes a letter to each women and within these letters interweaves her personal experience of living in the world.