Grace Under Pressure

When Sophie Walker's daughter Grace was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, her world unravelled. Her high-powered job was in disarray, she couldn't sleep, often woke in tears and felt hopeless and useless in her role as a mother.

One day she realised she hadn't done any exercise for months - neglecting her physical health as well as her mental wellbeing. Previously a keen runner, she set herself the challenge of running the London Marathon to raise awareness of Asperger Syndrome and make herself physically strong enough to support her daughter.

Invigorated by the physical challenge she had set herself, Sophie began a blog - Grace Under Pressure - writing about both day-to-day life raising Grace alongside training for the marathon. The combination caught the imagination of readers and the blog took off, garnering praise from a wide range of sources.

Now transformed into a book, GRACE UNDER PRESSURE is a moving story that charts the highs and lows of raising a child with Asperger Syndrome and the physical challenge of training for a long-distance running event.

“'Very powerful, very moving, and an important contribution to better understanding of a much misunderstood condition'”

Very powerful, very moving, and an important contribution to better understanding of a much misunderstood condition - Alastair Campbell

This is a book about Asperger's Syndrome and a book about running, but it's so much more than that. It's at heart a love story, testament to the power of a parent's fierce devotion to their child. Any parent will see in it something of themselves - Gaby Hinsliff, journalist and author of Half a Wife

Incredibly moving and inspiring. A mother always wants what's best for her daughter, but this mum has to really fight -- and run -- to get it - Ruth Field, bestselling author of Run Fat Bitch Run

A powerful account of how exercise can restore you physically and mentally - Top Sant?

Grace Under Pressure is a beautiful book. It tugged on my heart strings in the most orchestral fashion. Well done - Kathy Lette

extraordinary reading - mumsnet.com

London-based Walker, a Reuters reporter, marathon runner, and popular Asperger's and parenting blogger, offers an honest and inspiring portrait of parenting a child with the disorder . . . In the midst of her struggles, the author begins running for her own health and sanity as well to raise money for the U.K.'s National Autistic Society. As she trains, Walker's setbacks and triumphs are mirrored by Grace's parallel journey. Parents of children with Asperger's or other spectrum disorders will find information, validation, and hope in Walker's detailed and moving portrait of a mother/ "Aspie" daughter relationship - Publishers Weekly

Sophie Walker has worked as a journalist for Reuters news agency for fourteen years, reporting news around the globe. She has written about oil, trade and politics in Washington and has been foreign correspondent in the UK, travelling to Iraq and Afghanistan with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

'I sometimes wonder if Grace's fragility is inherited from me rather than her diagnosis: whether I am the culprit for the blue vein of vulnerability she displays so clearly beneath her skin. I am running and running now, three or four times a week . . . letting me work off my worries instead of numbing them with pharmaceuticals. But still, there are days when emotional overload hits . . . I find it so hard to bear the travails of my daughter. I love my daughter so much that it can render me incapable and thick-headed.' When Sophie Walker's daughter Grace was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, her world unravelled. Watching her daughter struggle to navigate a world she didn't fit into left Sophie teary, sleepless and depressed. One day she decided to start running, in order to get better, and set herself the challenge of completing the London Marathon to raise awareness of Asperger Syndrome and make herself physically strong enough to support her beloved, courageous child. With extraordinary frankness, Sophie Walker shares the daily highs and lows of raising a child with Asperger's and the challenge of becoming a long distance runner.Moving and hugely inspirational, Grace Under Pressure shows that strength can be found and in unexpected places.

When Sophie Walker's daughter Grace was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, her world unravelled. Her high-powered job was in disarray, she couldn't sleep, often woke in tears and felt hopeless and useless in her role as a mother.One day she realised she hadn't done any exercise for months - neglecting her physical health as well as her mental wellbeing. Previously a keen runner, she set herself the challenge of running the London Marathon to raise awareness of Asperger Syndrome and make herself physically strong enough to support her daughter.Invigorated by the physical challenge she had set herself, Sophie began a blog - Grace Under Pressure - writing about both day-to-day life raising Grace alongside training for the marathon. The combination caught the imagination of readers and the blog took off, garnering praise from a wide range of sources.Now transformed into a book, GRACE UNDER PRESSURE is a moving story that charts the highs and lows of raising a child with Asperger Syndrome and the physical challenge of training for a long-distance running event.

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