Out With It: How Stuttering Helped Me Find My Voice

Imagine being unable to say your own name or speak for longer than a few moments without stuttering. It's an adversity that Preston lives with daily and explores here. Broken into two parts that explore her life%E2%80%94growing up in England and her research into the how and why of stuttering in America%E2%80%94Preston's book pulses with wit and energy, and the realities of how difficult living with this affliction is painted vividly. She visits therapists who promise a "cure", discusses media portrayals from The Kings Speech to A Fish Called Wanda, and decides to interview researchers and fellow stutterers%E2%80%94including actors, musicians, and regular folks%E2%80%94to explore the problem academically. In the process she finds love and discovers a community of stutterers, some of whom emphasize their stutter in an attempt to remove the stigma around it. Preston is unflinching and funny; she manages to find a happy balance of education, memoir, and feel-good-factor that few books actually achieve, concluding that it is our "imperfections that ultimately make us beautiful." Never saccharine or pandering, Preston's book is a triumph of telling your story without fear or glossing over the harder to look at details. Agent: Brettne Bloom, Neerim, Williams & Bloom. (May)