Claire Oshetsky > Status Update

I love your novel, Chouette. As the mother of a severely autistic daughter I have never encountered anything that felt so authentic as this novel. Thank you. I needed this. And I’m sure other mothers of neurodivergent children need this too.
All my literary hero admiration goes to you.

It’s a tough journey. But I feel so much more human knowing that I am not alone in that. Thank you endlessly.

Anna, you said it. For me the best thing about writing Chouette has been discovering I'm not alone. This particular experience of motherhood can feel so isolating, and so bewildering.

My kids were in their twenties when I wrote Chouette, and yet the memories of those early years were still so raw and sad that I needed to wrap the story in layers and layers of absurd exaggeration, just to be able to write it down at all. So it's wonderful to hear from you that the 'truth' of the story still came through. Thanks so much for writing.