June 6, 2023

The Search for Love is Universal

After a lifetime of searching for someone like herself in a book, Holly Smale wrote one herself.

The Search for Love is Universal

After a lifetime of searching for someone like herself in a book, Holly Smale wrote one herself.

If ‘art is a mirror held up to nature’, then I have spent a lot of my life searching for my reflection and finding very little. While books have always been what I turned to for comfort and escapism – to see the world through other lenses – I have also been left feeling a little like a ghost, desperately ripping down dust-sheets but seeing nothing. And so the conviction that I was alone, and possibly ‘broken’, became more pronounced with every page I turned.

When I was diagnosed as autistic in my late 30s, that belief began to shift. I am simply wired differently, and – as the shame slowly melted away – my attention turned back to the page. If I had failed to find many women like me in books, perhaps I could write one. Thus Cassie was born. Like me, she would struggle with human connection and communication; she would find relationships difficult, emotions confusing and her environment sensorily overwhelming. Like me, she would be considered ‘weird’ and frequently ‘unlikeable’ and would struggle to find her place in a world that held her permanently at arms’ length.

But I didn’t want to write an ‘issues’ book. I wanted to write a joyful, fun story, albeit one with a slightly less usual protagonist. At its heart, this book is about what we all experience: a basic human desire to connect with the people around us, and ultimately to ourselves. Cassie uses time travel – in a very autistic way, looping, repeating, hyper-focusing – to do what we’ve all found ourselves wishing we could do at some point: undo our mistakes, rewrite our histories and edit our own lives. She may do it in a slightly unconventional way, but the search for love is universal. And this is what Cassandra In Reverse has always been about: love, in all its different forms. Love for each other, as humans, despite our differences.

We deserve books that reflect us all, and with Cassie I found a way to rip down the dust-sheet. Whether you’re autistic or not, this is a story that ultimately encourages you to be yourself and celebrate the beauty in our individuality.

None of us are truly alone.

"'You’re a human,' I say. 'The machine can try to compress you into something two dimensional, digestible, but that’s not you. And we’re not here to service the machine."'

📷: @noelles.reads
"I just think that maybe happiness isn’t crossing a finish line, or finally meeting the right person or getting the right job or finding the right life. It’s the little things.”

📷: @catherines_shelf
Our summer TBR is heating up ☀️ To kick it off, we are sharing the stacked June class of Reese’s Book Club! Which ones are you reading this season?
"There’s a certain kind of magic in picking up a book you just know will leave a mark." 

📷+💬: @philinthebookverse
"Even as my mind fades, I give my story to you, you who know in the same way that I know, their power. I have lived mine, and you have lived yours."

Inspiring words from The Phoenix Pencil Company and the power of story☀️
Sun's out, book's out ☀️ Enjoying the sunshine with a book we can't put down, Stuck Up and Stupid by @angourierice & @katericewriter.
Want to know the secrets behind writing those heart-pounding romance novels? @yulin.kuang spills all on the first episode of Bookmarked. Tune in to learn about her approach to writing complex female characters in the realm of romance — it’s an art form we’re in awe of.

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A juicy love triangle and the beach? Sign us up! ☀️

📷: @overbooked_pod