Love Is Not Enough: A Mother's Memoir of Autism, Madness, and Hope

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When Jenny Lexhed and her husband have their first child, Lucas, they are living the dream. They're happily married, they've just bought a house, the company they built together from the ground up is starting to blossom. But with the arrival of their son, a feeling of anxiety slips into their life. What starts as a feeling becomes a conviction.

Both brutally honest and deeply affecting,Love Is Not Enoughis a page-turning memoir that offers insight into autism and what a parent goes through for her child.

Reviews

"Jenny Lexhed has written a searing and unflinchingly honest memoir in which she courageously shares her struggle for both her own mental health and her autistic son's future. Many mothers of autistic children silently endure debilitating depression as they encounter seemingly endless obstacles in their fight for their child. Lexhed does the community of autism families a great service by sharing the story of her nervous breakdown and her battle back to mental health."Katie Wright, board member of SafeMinds, daughter of the founders of Autism Speaks

Love Is Not Enough is a beautiful and searing read. Jenny Lexhed is both fierce and fragile as she struggles to understand her son and the world of autism. The journey of loving Lucas and finding the best treatments for autism takes her family on a path that is filled with confusion, disappointment, frustration, and further traumasand one can feel the layers of those emotions with Lexheds beautiful prose. Sometimes heart-wrenching, other times humorously touching, Love Is Not Enough reminds us that one of the most important things we can do as parents of special needs children is to be their champion, their advocate. Deborah Serani, Psy.D., author of Depression and Your Child: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers

"An honest, gripping, and eye-opening trip through the world of parenting a child with autism, from the deep love that inspires the exploration of all options to the surprising toll it took on one mother. A must-read for any parent of a child who is 'different,' indeed, for anyone interested in the power of love to rise above hopelessness."
Randye Kaye, author of Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope

At times so candid, revealing, and painfully real that you have to set it down and catch your breath. Dagens Industri Weekend (Scandinavias Wall Street Journal)

Not just the story of an overworked mom and a family in crisis, its also about fortitude and, above all, the way back to a good life, told with both gallows humor and a self-effacing irony. Dagens Nyheter (Swedens best-selling daily newspaper)
"Jenny Lexhed has written a searing and unflinchingly honest memoir in which she courageously shares her struggle for both her own mental health and her autistic son's future. Many mothers of autistic children silently endure debilitating depression as they encounter seemingly endless obstacles in their fight for their child. Lexhed does the community of autism families a great service by sharing the story of her nervous breakdown and her battle back to mental health."Katie Wright, board member of SafeMinds, daughter of the founders of Autism Speaks

Love Is Not Enough is a beautiful and searing read. Jenny Lexhed is both fierce and fragile as she struggles to understand her son and the world of autism. The journey of loving Lucas and finding the best treatments for autism takes her family on a path that is filled with confusion, disappointment, frustration, and further traumasand one can feel the layers of those emotions with Lexheds beautiful prose. Sometimes heart-wrenching, other times humorously touching, Love Is Not Enough reminds us that one of the most important things we can do as parents of special needs children is to be their champion, their advocate. Deborah Serani, Psy.D., author of Depression and Your Child: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers

"An honest, gripping, and eye-opening trip through the world of parenting a child with autism, from the deep love that inspires the exploration of all options to the surprising toll it took on one mother. A must-read for any parent of a child who is 'different,' indeed, for anyone interested in the power of love to rise above hopelessness."
Randye Kaye, author of Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope

At times so candid, revealing, and painfully real that you have to set it down and catch your breath. Dagens Industri Weekend (Scandinavias Wall Street Journal)

Not just the story of an overworked mom and a family in crisis, its also about fortitude and, above all, the way back to a good life, told with both gallows humor and a self-effacing irony. Dagens Nyheter (Swedens best-selling daily newspaper)

Author Bio

Jenny Lexhed and her husband now have three children. In 1995, they founded the speakers bureau Talarforum in Scandinavia, which has grown to seventy employees and more than eight thousand speakers in its network. Now sixteen, Lucas has learned to communicate, read, write, and do math; he is an independent and happy young adult. Jenny has become a sought-after speaker in Scandinavia and a contributor to various publications. She and her family have lived since 2013 in Florida. Visit her website at www.jennylexhed.com.