What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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► Suggest books for me > Novels with disabled (main) characters?

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message 1: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments I'm looking for books with disabled (main) characters. The type of disability (mental, emotional, physical...) does not matter as long as it's treated/written about respectfully(!) and researched carefully. I'd especially like to either read romance novels where one person is disabled or about disabled parents and how that might affect their day-to-day life.
I'll read absolutely every genre.
Thank you very much!


message 2: by Kim (new)

Kim | 11 comments hello ! while I haven't read all of those books, I know some books that might match what you're looking for !

Get a Life, Chloe Brown (adult romance, with apparently explicit sex scenes, first book in the trilogy The Brown Sisters)
Wonder (I'd say middle grade or young adult)
Me Before You (I'd say adult romance ?)
Anything But Typical (ya/mg, about a young autistic boy)
Like Water (a young woman who decides to stay in her hometown after high school because her dad has been diagnosed with huntington's disease)
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (historical fiction set in the 1700s, with gay romance, one of the main characters suffers from epilepsy)

I hope you'll find something to your liking !


message 3: by Cy (new)

Cy Noblejas | 12 comments Try Sandi Lynn's A Beautiful Sight (female main character is blind) and Unspoken (female main character is deaf) -


message 4: by mel. (last edited Jul 04, 2021 02:13PM) (new)

mel. | 44 comments Cy wrote: "Try Sandi Lynn's A Beautiful Sight (female main character is blind) and Unspoken (female main character is deaf) -"

Kim wrote: "hello ! while I haven't read all of those books, I know some books that might match what you're looking for !

Get a Life, Chloe Brown (adult romance, with apparently explicit sex s..."


Kim wrote: "hello ! while I haven't read all of those books, I know some books that might match what you're looking for !

Get a Life, Chloe Brown (adult romance, with apparently explicit sex s..."


Thank you! :)


message 5: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Cy wrote: "Try Sandi Lynn's A Beautiful Sight (female main character is blind) and Unspoken (female main character is deaf) -"

Thanks a lot!


message 7: by Eric (new)

Eric Bruce | 235 comments Glastänzerin wrote: "I'm looking for books with disabled (main) characters. The type of disability (mental, emotional, physical...) does not matter as long as it's treated/written about respectfully(!) and researched c..."

Have you tried Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme books ? At first glance may not be your thing but you may be surprised . There are about 15 in the series so far .


message 10: by Jaye (new)

Jaye  | 424 comments How Lucky

Just started this. It definitely fits the disabled person fiction reading theme.


message 11: by Jaye (new)

Jaye  | 424 comments Still Alice. I thought this one was excellent.


message 14: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Eric wrote: "Glastänzerin wrote: "I'm looking for books with disabled (main) characters. The type of disability (mental, emotional, physical...) does not matter as long as it's treated/written about respectfull..."

I have not! Thank you!


message 15: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Cara's Craftsations wrote: "On the Edge of Gone Autistic
A Kind of SparkAutistic

A Boy Called Bat

The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family ADHD"


Thank you :)


message 16: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Paige wrote: "Witch's Fire"

Thanks, I'll check it out!


message 17: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Jaye wrote: "How Lucky

Just started this. It definitely fits the disabled person fiction reading theme."


This sounds interesting, thanks!


message 18: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Jaye wrote: "Still Alice. I thought this one was excellent."

Thank you! I've heard of the movie, but never watched it, and never read the book either - thank you!


message 19: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Jaye wrote: "List

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1..."


Oh, thank you! :) I will look through the list, thanks!


message 20: by Gillian (new)

Gillian Wiseman (gillianwiseman) | 241 comments For a SF slant, you might try The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois Bujold. The main character is short and fragile; his bones shatter easily due to a poisoning his mother suffered while he was a fetus. Science Fiction action-adventure - first in a long-running series.


message 21: by Kelsey (new)

Kelsey Morgan | 14 comments I highly enjoy the Lincoln Rhymes books by Jeffery Deaver. They’re more crime thrillers, but Rhyme is a quadriplegic, and I like that the novels aren’t solely about his disability.


message 22: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Gillian wrote: "For a SF slant, you might try The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois Bujold. The main character is short and fragile; his bones shatter easily due to a poisoning his mother suffered while he..."

This sounds fantastic! Thank you very much!


message 23: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Kelsey wrote: "I highly enjoy the Lincoln Rhymes books by Jeffery Deaver. They’re more crime thrillers, but Rhyme is a quadriplegic, and I like that the novels aren’t solely about his disability."

Thanks! I will check them out!


message 24: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Bump.


message 25: by Lynn (last edited Sep 22, 2021 07:00PM) (new)

Lynn (lynnbar) | 126 comments Dean Koontz has a character with xeroderma pigmentosum - a light sensitivity - the series starts with Fear Nothing. The novel is classed as paranormal thriller.

Elizabeth Moon's main character in The Speed of Dark has autism. This is set in the future - science fiction.

Mark Haddon also writes about autism in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time/ this one is classed as YA mystery.

This one is an autobiography, rather than a novel: Emma and I by Sheila Hocking. It tells of Sheila's blindness and her guide dog, Emma. I read this many years ago and remember it as being very moving... oh and there was romance :)


message 27: by Mara (new)

Mara | 33 comments On the Edge of Gone has an autistic main character.

One of the main characters in the Six of Crows duology walks with a limp, uses a cane, and can't touch people because of his PTSD. Another main character has an unnamed disability that prevents him from being able to read (I've seen people say he's probably dyslexic but also seen actually dyslexic people say that doesn't sound accurate at all).

The main character in Of Better Blood polio survivor who has a paralyzed leg and uses crutches to walk.


message 28: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Lynn wrote: "Dean Koontz has a character with xeroderma pigmentosum - a light sensitivity - the series starts with Fear Nothing. The novel is classed as paranormal thriller.

Elizabeth Moon's main ..."


I already read The Speed Of Dark, will check out the others.
Thank you!


message 29: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Jaye wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/series/113442

This 3 book series is excellent. 1st is 600 Hours of Edward
600 Hours of Edward (Edward, #1) by Craig Lancaster
ByCraig Lancaster"


Thank you!


message 30: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Mara wrote: "On the Edge of Gone has an autistic main character.

One of the main characters in the Six of Crows duology walks with a limp, uses a cane, and can't touch people be..."


All of them sound fantastic! Thanks!


message 31: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Bump.


message 32: by Pamela (new)

Pamela Love | 1509 comments Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling and its sequels Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus


message 33: by Capn (new)

Capn | 3506 comments The Door in the Wall - a bonus for our times, it's during an outbreak of the Plague! ;)


message 34: by Shawna (new)

Shawna Finnigan (sugoishawn) | 127 comments Five Feet Apart - cystic fibrosis
Human Enough - autism
The Charm Offensive - OCD & panic disorder


message 35: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)


message 36: by [deleted user] (new)


message 37: by Mara (new)

Mara | 33 comments The Degenerates. Two of the four main characters are disabled (one has Down Syndrome and one has talipes equinovarus).


message 39: by Anna (last edited Jan 29, 2022 03:41PM) (new)

Anna Kļaviņa (annamatsuyama) | 425 comments Dissolution main character has kyphosis ( hunchback). Great mystery series.

Elizabeth Is Missing main character has been diagnosed with dementia

Freaks Like Us main character has been diagnosed with schizophrenia

Hither, Page one of the main characters suffers from PTSD. Historical romance

The Magic Box main character has diabetes 1. Pre insulin days. Historical fantasy

Pet selective mutism. YA Fantasy

An Unseen Attraction one of the main characters is autistic (?) Historical romance


message 40: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44911 comments Mod
Skull Session. Protagonist has Tourette's.


message 41: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44911 comments Mod
The Tyrant by Michael Cisco, fantasy/horror/speculative. The protagonist is a gifted teen girl with polio.


message 42: by Jody (new)

Jody | 109 comments I haven't read and like the one's listed above but I greatly enjoyed these historical romances: The Madness of Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley. And Candle in the Window by Chrstina Dodd. Sorry don't know how to link books.


message 43: by Nicole (new)

Nicole | 41 comments A Different Life by Lois Keith is really good.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/sho...

It's a YA novel but it's very well written. The author herself is in a wheelchair so while the story is fiction the depiction of life with a disability is very real.


message 44: by mel. (new)

mel. | 44 comments Nicole wrote: "A Different Life by Lois Keith is really good.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/sho...

It's a YA novel but it's very well written. The author herself is in a wheelchair so while the story..."


Ooh, interesting - thank you!


message 45: by Gillian (last edited Nov 02, 2022 11:50AM) (new)

Gillian Wiseman (gillianwiseman) | 241 comments I don't think The War That Saved My Life has been mentioned - it is middle grade historical fiction, set in England during WWII. The main character is a young girl with clubfoot. She and her brother are evacuated during the blitz on London. I liked it because it is as much about how the adults around them affect the main character and her brother as it is about anything else. The sequel is equally good.


message 46: by Bookwyrm (new)

Bookwyrm | 19 comments Treasures in the Oatmeal Box is a realistic tween novel where the main character has Downs Syndrome.


message 47: by Rose (new)

Rose Paris | 174 comments The Girl in Red by Christina Henry


message 48: by Anh (new)

Anh | 77 comments The Guardian Test just finished it.


message 49: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44911 comments Mod
Sanjo. 34 year old woman has Down syndrome.


message 50: by Darcey (new)

Darcey Ash The Thing with Feathers is YA contemporary realistic romance about a girl with epilepsy. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus is Middle Grade realistic fiction with just a tiny bit of a mystery. It’s about a girl who was born with no arms. There are probably more but I don’t want to sit and think for a long time.


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