Welcome to Biscuit Land: A Year in the Life of Touretteshero

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

Meet Jessica, Touretteshero. Jessica has Tourettes Syndrome, which means she has verbal and physical tics over which she has no control. Jessica swears, shes one of about 10% of people with Tourettes who do. She says `biscuit 16 times per minute (thats about 6 million a year!), and theres the sometimes life threatening arm and leg tics. These excerpts from Jesss blog follow a year in her life and the whole spectrum of her experiences. We are introduced to her support network of close friends including Fat Sister, Leftwing Idiot and King Russell, and also to the ignorant people who try to drag her down. Moving, funny and shocking Jessicas words are courageous and optimistic in the face of the problems she faces. Welcome to Biscuit Land.

Reviews

[A] charming, touching and valuable book -- Stephen Fry
Her struggle with this much misunderstood condition forms the focus of a moving, year-long diary * Daily Mail *
An insider's guide to having Tourette's Syndrome * Observer *
A role model for people across the country struggling to come to terms with the condition ... Welcome To Biscuit Land has become an invaluable resource for families coping with Tourettes * Evening Standard *
She writes quite brilliantly about her daily challenges, whilst celebrating the creativity and some of the humour of the condition * Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4 *
A heartfelt anthology of short musings and anecdotes that can be funny, absurd and even infuriating and sad ... Jessica Thom is a unique person and Welcome to Biscuit Land is, above all, a fun and uplifting read * Lancet *
Thom (focuses) on the playfulness and creativity that the condition can foster * The Times *

Author Bio

Jess Thom studied drawing at Camberwell College of Art, works as the project coordinator at Oasis Children's Venture in South London, and writes her daily blog www. touretteshero.com. Stephen Fry is an actor, a screenwriter, a comedian, and a director who is well known for his collaborations with Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster, his appearances in such films as Alice in Wonderland, Gosford Park, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and his recurring guest role on the television show Bones. He is the author of The Liar, Making History, The Moab is My Washpot, The Ode Less Travelled, Revenge, and Stephen Fry in America.

Jess Thom has Tourette's Syndrome, a neurological condition that manifests itself through multiple vocal and physical tics. Through Welcome to Biscuit Land, and her blog, Jess aims to alter the perceptions of Tourette's, showing it as the creative, if somewhat surreal, force that it is.