Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity

What it's about

Andrew Solomon spent ten years interviewing more than three hundred families whose children were profoundly different from their parents: children who are deaf, have dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism or schizophrenia, are prodigies, were conceived in rape, committed crimes, or are transgender. Each chapter explores how families come to accept, and often celebrate, children unlike themselves, and what that says about love and identity.

Why it's worth reading

It's a monumental, deeply compassionate book that won the NBCC Award, and readers say it changed how they think about parenting, difference and what makes a family. Many call it life-changing.

You'll love it if you liked

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, When Breath Becomes Air or The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Good to know

It's nearly 1,000 pages, but each chapter stands alone, so you can read the ones that speak to you. Some chapters cover crime and sexual violence.