Publishing is becoming more and more diverse, which is truly a wonderful thing. We can write whole recommendation lists on almost every topic now, but one theme that is still a little underrepresented (in our daily lives and on our shelves) are characters with a disability or chronic illness.

Many readers are actively trying to diversify their shelves, which is fantastic! If you are one of those readers who are looking for books with diverse representation and are still on the hunt for books dealing with disability and chronic pain, then this is a good starting point! We’ve collected 16 fictional reads to compile them into a list for you.

We have tried to keep this list as diverse as possible, but if you know of a book dealing with a disability or illness, please leave us a comment below!

Love From A to Z by SK Ali
Representation: Multiple Sclerosis

A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes—because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together. An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.

But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry. When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break. Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her. Then her path crosses with Adam’s.

Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.

Pages I Never Wrote by Marco Donati
Representation: Dyspraxia

 Luke has good friends, a passion for books, and dyspraxia, a disorder that, ironically, makes him unable to write. He also has a hatred for anyone who tries to help him. Yet when he fails his first term at university due to his learning difficulties, he’s forced to get support. That’s how Nate, an excitable last-year student, becomes his self-proclaimed personal tutor and starts writing down essays for him, as a distraction from his own quarter-life crisis. But Luke’s writing ambitions are not just academic. He dreams of penning a novel, although that’s never been a real possibility. Until now.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Representation: Chronic Pain

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items? Enjoy a drunken night out, ride a motorcycle, go camping, have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex, travel the world with nothing but hand luggage, and… do something bad.

But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.

Every Little Piece of My Heart by Non Pratt
Representation: Lupus

When Sophie receives a parcel from her best friend, Freya, she expects it to contain the reason why Freya left town so suddenly, without goodbyes and without explanation. Instead, she finds a letter addressed to Win, a girl Freya barely knew – or did she? As more letters arrive for more people on the periphery of Freya’s life, Sophie and Win begin to piece together who Freya was and why she left. Sometimes it’s not about who’s gone, but about who they leave behind

The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachel Allen
Representation: Juvenile Arthritis

Skyler, Ellie, Scarlett and Amelia Grace are forced to spend the summer at the lake house where their moms became best friends.

One can’t wait. One would rather gnaw off her own arm than hang out with a bunch of strangers just so their moms can drink too much wine and sing Journey two o’clock in the morning. Two are sisters. Three are currently feuding with their mothers.

One almost sets her crush on fire with a flaming marshmallow. Two steal the boat for a midnight joyride that goes horribly, awkwardly wrong. All of them are hiding something. One falls in love with a boy she thought she despised. Two fall in love with each other. None of them are the same at the end of the summer.

A Curse So Dark And Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Representation: Cerebral Palsy

Fall in love, break the curse. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard
Representation: Deaf character

Steffi doesn’t talk, but she has so much to say. Rhys can’t hear, but he can listen. Their love isn’t a lightning strike, it’s the rumbling roll of thunder.

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom
Representation: Blind character

The Rules: Don’t deceive me. Ever. Especially using my blindness. Especially in public. Don’t help me unless I ask. Otherwise you’re just getting in my way or bothering me. Don’t be weird. Seriously, other than having my eyes closed all the time, I’m just like you only smarter.

Parker Grant doesn’t need 20/20 vision to see right through you. That’s why she created the Rules: Don’t treat her any differently just because she’s blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. Just ask Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart.

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
Representation: Rheumatoid arthritis and Gaucher disease

Isabel has one rule: no dating. It’s easier. It’s safer. It’s better…for the other person. She’s got issues. She’s got secrets. She’s got rheumatoid arthritis. But then she meets another sick kid. He’s got a chronic illness Isabel’s never heard of, something she can’t even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father who’s a doctor.

He’s gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her. Isabel has one rule: no dating. It’s complicated. It’s dangerous. It’s never felt better…to consider breaking that rule for him.

A List of Cages by Robin Roe
Representation: ADHD and Dyslexia

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he’s got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn’t easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can’t complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian—the foster brother he hasn’t seen in five years.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Representation: Autism

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor’s dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

The Memory Book by Lara Avery
Representation: Niemann-Pick disease type C

Sammie was always a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as humanly possible. Nothing will stand in her way–not even a rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly start to steal her memories and then her health. What she needs is a new plan.

So the Memory Book is born: Sammie’s notes to her future self, a document of moments great and small. It’s where she’ll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime crush, Stuart–a brilliant young writer who is home for the summer. And where she’ll admit how much she’s missed her childhood best friend, Cooper, and even take some of the blame for the fight that ended their friendship.

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
Representation: Prosopagnosia

Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen.” But no one’s taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything. 

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can’t recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He’s the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything, but he can’t understand what’s going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Representation: Character in a wheelchair

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . . Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

All Of My Friends Are Rich by Michael Sarais
Representation: Bi-Polar Depression

Orphan Leo Cotton has finally built a family, but the advent of bipolar depression wakes him from this dreamlife to reveal dark truths about the man he’d married. One year later, Leo is lost. Embarrassed by a dead-end job that barely pays the bills, he can’t help but notice that those around him are all enjoying success. When his closest friend, Sara, asks him to be her best man, Leo reaches the last straw: how can he possibly afford these lavish festivities on his wages? A Grindr chance encounter reveals that a shortcut to riches does exist . . . but in the end, this reckless route may cost him the loved-ones he aims to impress and welcome terrible danger . . .

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Representation: Character born without arms and Tourette’s

Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again.

Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

Do you have any recommendations? Tell us in the comments below for us to check out as well as other readers!

The post 16 Fiction Books With Disability Representation appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Michael Sarais is the author of the upcoming novel All of My Friends Are Rich, set to be released June 16^th, 2020. I had the immense pleasure of asking him a few questions about his work!

All of My Friends Are Rich is your first published (or soon to be) book, have you always been a writer? When did you first start writing?

I was a voracious reader as a child. I was raised in a very liberal household, so I was allowed to read just about any book I could get my hands on.

When I was 11 years old, I started writing a “teen drama series” in the form of screenplays. (I re-read them recently and they are an absolute train wreck!) I then pursued a degree in journalism, thinking that was going to be the best route for me to express myself through the written word. I always dreamt of writing a book, but I could never imagine myself having enough discipline to write one from beginning to end. Once I actually gave it a try, it came naturally.

How long did this take you to write, from concept to final manuscript?

I’m a major pantser, so I did almost zero work prior to writing the story. My outline was just a collection of words that would help me keep in mind where the story needed to go, but I mainly went with the flow. It took six weeks to finish the first draft, then over three months of developmental editing, beta reading and copyediting. Editing for me is the least fun part of the process!

Are your family and friends supportive of you?

Very much so. My mum is the biggest cheerleader and my best friend often bullied me into writing. I dedicated the book to both of them as they have been my main supporters throughout the process.

Has the overall plot changed majorly from first draft?

It hasn’t! I’m baffled my editors didn’t ask for major changes. A key difference to the first draft is that Leo wasn’t originally an orphan. The whole storyline involving his family came about in the second draft, so that his journey would be more impactful.

In the book you deal with mental health, having it play quite a substantial role in Leo’s downward spiral. Is there anything you hope the reader will take away from this story in regard to mental health?

Telling a story about mental health was my number one goal when drafting the novel. I wanted it to be packaged in a fun and light-hearted way, but I knew there would be aspects of what it means to live with a mental health condition. We are living at a time where mental health is constantly talked about, but there is still a stigma around therapy and medication. For many people these things are vital, and Leo is one of those people. He sees himself as a burden to others, so he never asks for help. If there’s a single takeaway from this whole story, is to seek help whenever those bad thoughts riddle your day-to-day life.

Without throwing out too much of a spoiler, was there a particular scene or part of the book you really enjoyed writing?

I really enjoyed writing the end of the second act of the story. There’s a series of pivotal events that happen one after another and they change the story drastically. A lot of All Of My Friends Are Rich revolves around Leo’s experiences as an amateur escort, which is not something that everyone necessarily has been through, but once the climax comes about, the story becomes more grounded and human, almost subverting the initial premise of the story.

A common idea in the book community is that in order to be a successful author you need to first be a reader. Do you consider yourself to be a big reader?

It is a common idea, although I don’t necessarily agree with it. It surely helps to read books and understanding genres, tropes and various ways to construct a story; however I don’t think that’s the main determining factor of what constitutes a decent storyteller. I am not the biggest reader out there, but I’m a huge consumer of stories. I love films, TV series and videogames. I think my writing style is influenced by all those mediums put together, rather than books alone.

If you had to describe AOMFAR in 5 words, what would they be?

Raw, sexy (sort of!), sarcastic, human and eye-opening. (This was hard!)

If you could bring any fictional character to life (not from AOMFAR) who would it be and why?

I have an unhealthy obsession for crazy characters, so I’d love to meet Amy Elliott-Dunne from Gone Girl. Ahh, to pick that brilliant brain of hers.

Would you rather be a cat with a human face or a dog with human hands for feet?

I think the film Cats is a testament that cats should not have human faces. So, I’d pick the less traumatizing option of being a dog with human hands and feet. Far less nightmare-inducing.

Do you have plans for a sequel or spinoff for AOMFAR?

I have some ideas, but nothing concrete as of yet. I firstly wanted to see what readers thought of my darling characters before committing to a new story.

Finally, can you give a few hints as to what your next book in progress will be about? Similar to AOMFAR?

Absolutely! It’s going to be a slight departure in terms of genre. The book I’m working on is still an adult contemporary, but it will have a “romance” vibe to it. It will follow the different lives of two guys located on opposite ends of the world and the ways they come into contact with each other.

Will you be picking up All of My Friends Are Rich? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Michael Sarais, Author of ‘All of My Friends Are Rich’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hurtling towards 30, Leo Cotton works at a job he loathes, his ex-husband has primary custody of his dog as well as a younger, mesh t-shirt wearing boyfriend, his bank account is in the negative, and now his best friend, Sara, is getting married. In Greece. When a Grindr hook-up surprisingly turns a profit, Leo thinks he may have found a way to increase his bank balance and afford to comfortably partake in events leading up to and including Sara’s big day.

From the first words of the book—literally—we are made aware of how Leo is doing financially, which essentially, is not well. Surrounded by his ‘rich’ friends, with the backdrop of the notoriously not cheap London, Leo struggles to keep pace in their world. Stretching his income as much as he possibly can to make ends meet and living in his overdraft is his normal. He is always the one having drinks and meals (happily and without judgement) bought for him, so it is no secret that he is not quite as well off as his friends, though the exact extent is seemingly unknown as his retail job keeps him in designer clothing.

When Sara announces her engagement, Leo knows that he has no chance of taking part in everything with his current financial situation, so when opportunity presents itself, he sees a way to make it all happen. Leo is sarcastic and witty, has the right amount of self-deprecation and reads as a believable character. His life is so far from ideal that as a reader, you want nothing more than the ability to fix it all for him and let him know how loved and wanted he is. In the first chapter we accompany Leo to his psychiatrist, introducing the reader to his bi-polar disorder and the fact he is medicated and reliant on it to avoid the deep downswings and mania. Over the course of the book, we watch as Leo struggles to keep everything in check and the very real impact his choices have on his life and mental health.

Sara Langaard is Leo’s best friend. Working under Leo’s ex-husband’s new boyfriend, Sara shares in Leo’s dislike for the man, and does not hesitate to voice her opinion as such. A decade of knowing each other has built a friendship most people dream of, with a sense of loyalty and understanding. Sara feels very much like Shazza from Bridget Jones. She swears, chain smokes, and drinks like a drain but has always been there for Leo, until she somewhat unintentionally becomes wrapped up in her own seemingly perfect life. Sara never comes across as nasty or malicious towards Leo, merely like her current life situation—her engagement and planning her wedding—is all consuming to an extent, something that happens to the best of us. Andrew, John, and Dominic are all friends of Leo’s, creating a well-rounded supporting cast, further fleshing out Leo as a character. Andrew provides Leo with a place to live and a consistent, safe, reliable friendship, whereas John and Dominic, seemingly to be more fun, ‘out for drinks’ types, though no less available if Leo should desire.

Michael Sarais has managed to craft a book that takes you on a journey where you quite literally gag (more than once), laugh, and try not to cry as Leo stumbles through his existence. His decision to make money from being an escort seeping into every corner of his life, despite his self-assurances that wouldn’t happen. Leo is so beautifully flawed, unaware of his self-worth and often downright hilarious, I often found myself wanting to throttle him for his poor choices. The continued struggle Leo faces with his mental health is so real, the way he is not fully aware of how his mental state presents to others really rung true, his mental health was a backdrop to this story that you didn’t feel suffocated by. It was more than a plot point or a box to check to make the story relevant in today’s reading world. The authenticity to Leo’s struggle and his desire to have a life and career he can be proud of is ultimately what made me fall in love with this story, more than Leo’s spark and humour. I wanted Leo to find his path and succeed.

My only real issue with this entire works would be in regards to the HIV testing, a clarification about the virus taking time to manifest in a persons blood and the quality of rapid result tests would improve things, but that is quite literally nit-picking and nothing more. The writing style is conversational, the story grows organically, never feeling stilted or dull and the conclusion is what you want in a book of this genre, with a tiny teaser for a potential future story. Though if that is the case, I would hope for Leo to be of a supporting nature and not centre stage. Either way, whatever Michael Sarais produces next is something I absolutely cannot wait to read. A wonderful debut novel and a solid 9/10 read.

All of My Friends Are Rich is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of June 16th 2020.

Will you be picking up All of My Friends Are Rich? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Orphan Leo Cotton has finally built a family, but the advent of bipolar depression wakes him from this dreamlife to reveal dark truths about the man he’d married.

One year later, Leo is lost. Embarrassed by a dead-end job that barely pays the bills, he can’t help but notice that those around him are all enjoying success. When his closest friend, Sara, asks him to be her best man, Leo reaches the last straw: how can he possibly afford these lavish festivities on his wages? A Grindr chance encounter reveals that a shortcut to riches does exist . . . but in the end, this reckless route may cost him the loved-ones he aims to impress and welcome terrible danger . . .

Leo’s trip will take him afar, but answers lie only within.

The post Review: All of My Friends Are Rich by Michael Sarais appeared first on The Nerd Daily.