Dear Mark Haddon,

Dear Mark Haddon,

Your book The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nighttime has such a personal meaning to me. It really helped me to understand when I was sure that I never would. I am writing this letter to you to thank you for that because I wouldn't be the same person I am today without it.

Now before I go into details as to why I came about your book, I think I ought to give you some context. I have a younger brother called Angus. When he was two, he was diagnosed with severe autism; everyone told our family that he would never be able to talk or interact with others. Obviously, I was too young to understand at the time as I am only a year and a half older than him, so I just went about life knowing that he was different, but not fully understanding why and how.

I grew up with autism, it was, and still is part of day to day life. So, I guess you could say that I didn't know any different. Sticking to an exact routine everyday was normal for me. On reflection, I don't think that I realised how different my childhood had been until many years later. 

So, I came across your book and I could immediately see Christopher in my brother. I know that Christopher doesn't have it as severe as my brother does, and he seems to have Aspergers rather than autism (correct me if I'm wrong), but all the little things he does, like not liking 'chatting' were exactly the same! It enabled me to understand my brother more than I had ever before. I was able to see the world through his obviously confused eyes for just a second and it really gave me an insight into what life is like for him. It was so refreshing seeing someone talk about autism almost humorously, rather than portraying it as a condition. 

Many years later and I still love and read your book. We studied it in English class in year 9 (I obviously had a considerably large advantage) I even went to see the play in London last year. If anyone ever needed to understand why my brother, or anyone else with Aspergers or Autism for that matter, was different, I would always just refer them to your book. I hope it has helped others to understand as much as it helped me.

In short, your book made me feel like this :-)

Signing off till next time,

Nin :-) x