Disabilities Reflected in Adult Fiction

The Color of Family

By Jerry McGill (Fic McGi)

Brothers Devon and James have athletic talent. Then a car accident leaves Devon paralyzed, while James continues living the dream. Later, Devon visits his seven siblings who each struggle to cope with the aftermath of the accident. Will Devon and his siblings triumph over unresolved demons, guilt, and family secrets?
The Hearing Test: A Novel

By Eliza Barry Callahan (Fic Call, eBook)

A young woman reorients her relationship to the world in the wake of sudden deafness with no explanation. Over a year, she keeps a record of her experiences —a score of estrangement, enchantment, humor, loneliness, and luck —while living alone in a New York City studio apartment with her dog.
More of Less Maddy

By Lisa Genova (Fic Geno, CD Fic Geno, Q Geno, eBook, eAudiobook)

The author of "Still Alice" returns with a novel about a college freshman recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and the complex effects this has on her identity, her relationships, and her dreams of a career in stand-up comedy. “More or Less Maddy” makes complicated health issues accessible.
The Silence in Her Eyes

By Armando Lucas Correa (Fic Corr, eBook, eAudiobook)

Although Leah has motion blindness, her acute senses of smell and hearing allow very little to escape her notice. Leah is convinced her neighbor, who is trying to escape from an abusive husband, is going to be murdered and makes a decision that will test her courage, strength and sanity.
A Disabled World

By Batya Ana (Fic Ana)

Tzvi Arbel has always been hyperactive. His wife, Shevie, gets dizzy just watching the speed at which he moves and gets things done. Shevi wants a happy, quiet life, and doesn't understand why Tzvi doesn't want to be normal. But who sets the norms or says the norms are right?
Hunchback

By Sao Ichikawa (Fic Ichi)

Shaka, who has a muscle disorder, relies on an electric wheelchair and a ventilator. Life becomes complicated and empowering when she tweets an offer of an enormous sum of money for a sperm donor and her new nurse accepts. Shaka insists on making choices for herself, no matter the consequences.
Libby Lost and Found

By Stephanie Booth (Fic Boot, eBook, eAudiobook)

Libby Weeks, author of a mega-best-selling fantasy series, is faced with an already overdue manuscript when she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. She turns to eleven-year-old superfan Peanut to help her finish the book. However, Peanut harbors dark secrets. Tensions mount until Peanut and Libby swirl into a shocking conclusion.
Armored

By Mark Greaney (Fic Grea, Q Grea, CD Fic Grea, eBook, eAudiobook)

Joshua Duffy, now a mall cop in Paramus, was an elite professional bodyguard until he lost his lower left leg during his last mission. An old comrade tells him that the UN is sending a peace mission into dangerous mountains in Mexico. Josh eagerly agrees to one last job.
A Sign of Her Own

By Sarah Marsh (Fic Mars, Q Mars)

Inspired by a true story, A Sign of Her Own describes the life of Ellen Lark, a deaf woman who became a favorite student of Alexander Graham Bell while he raced against Western Union to cast a human voice over wires.
Magodiz: A Novel

By Gabe Calderon (Fic Cald)

For fans of Love after the End: novel of Indigenous futurism in which Two-Spirit, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and disabled characters – survivors of a devasting war – fight to save what’s left of their world.
Only the Beautiful

By Susan Meissner (Fic Meis, eBook, eAudiobook)

In 1947, Helen Calvert returned to her brother's vineyard in America after witnessing Hitler's brutal pursuit of hereditary purity. She is drawn into battle at home when she discovers what really happened to her friend, the vinedresser's pregnant daughter, who sees colors when she hears sounds.
Interesting Facts About Space: A Novel

By Emily Austin (Fic Aust, CD Fic Aust, eBook, eAudiobook)

When she unwittingly plunges into her first serious romantic entanglement, space-obsessed, true crime podcast-obsessed, neurodivergent Enid starts to believe that someone is following her.
Losing Sight: A Romantic Comedy

By Tati Richardson (Fic Rich, eAudiobook)

Sports reporter Tanika Ryan loses her coveted Thursday Night football spot after her sight becomes impaired. After an accident, Tanika finds herself in the office of handsome widowed optometrist Gideon Miles. There, Tanika is led to an enchanted pair of glasses, changing her world—and Gideon’s—forever.
You Know What You Did: A Novel

By K. T. Nguyen (Fic Nguy, eBook, eAudiobook)

When her mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly, Annie Shaw’s OCD comes back with a vengeance. When the investigation zeroes in on her, her mind increasingly fractures and the only thing she knows is this: she will do anything to protect her daughter even if it means losing herself.
The Match

By Sarah Adams (Fic Adam, eAudiobook)

Southern Service Paws matched a service dog trained to assist Evie with her epilepsy. After becoming employed by the company, Evie meets Jacob at a meeting. Evie spends time with Jacob and his daughter to match them with a service dog and longs to be part of their family.
The Emperor of Gladness: A Novel

By Ocean Vuong (Fic Vuon, Q Vuon, eBook, eAudiobook)

In the struggling town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai is saved from despair by Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia, forging an unexpected bond that reshapes their lives and reveals dynamics of love, memory, and resilience on the margins of society.
Out on a Limb

By Hannah Bonam-Young (Fic Bona, eBook, eAudiobook)

Winnifred McNulty is not one to be coddled for her limb difference and has spent most of her life trying to prove her independence. Then a one-night stand at a costume party with the incredibly charming Bo, who has a prosthetic leg, changes everything when Winnifred becomes pregnant.
Greek Lessons

By Kang Han (Fic Han)

A young Korean woman losing her ability to speak due to psychological trauma befriends a Greek language teacher who is losing his sight. They discover they have even more in common than the Greek language class she enrolls in with the goal of regaining her ability to speak.
When the Rain Ends

By Mary Ellen Taylor (Q Tayl)

When artist Dani learns she's losing her vision, she becomes unmoored. Her ex-husband died recently. On a whim, Dani sells her waterfront home and buys an old farm. Dani's preteen daughter recoils. Their efforts to turn a run-down silo into an art studio bring forth new friends, loves, and challenges.
Little Monsters: A Novel

By Adrienne Brodeur (Fic Brod, CD Fic Brod, ebook, eAudiobook)

As their father, a brilliant oceanographer with bipolar disorder choosing to forgo medication, approaches his seventieth birthday, his children, who have a troubled and complicated relationship, each plan elaborate gifts for him. They jockey for primacy in this riveting novel that draws on the biblical tale of Cain and Abel.
The St. Ambrose School for Girls

By Jessica Ward (Fic Ward, Q Ward, CD Fic Ward, eBook, eAudiobook)

Sarah Taylor, recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, is relentlessly bullied by St. Ambrose's queen bee, Greta. Sarah finds an ally in her roommate and is determined not to let Greta break her. Then Sarah’s world unravels in ways she could never have imagined when a scandal unfolds, resulting in murder.
Shred Sisters

By Betsy Lerner (Fic Lern, eBook)

Spanning two decades, an intimate and bittersweet story explores the fierce complexities of sisterhood, mental health, loss and love, showing that for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Ollie Shred cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them.
Principles of (e)motion

By Sara Reid (Fic Read)

Mathematical genius Dr. Meg Brightwood has just completed a proof of a nearly impenetrable problem. She opts for a public presentation to curtail doubt of her authorship. A panic attack obliterates her plan and she locks away her only manuscript. When Meg goes to retrieve it, it is missing.
Guy's Girl

By Emma Noyes (Fic Noye)

When she meets Adrian, Ginny, who has always found friendships with boys easier to form and keep drama-free than dating and is battling an eating disorder, questions her own rules. As they fall into something intoxicating, something dangerous, they reveal their innermost secrets that could help them or destroy them.
Death of the Author

By Nnedi Okorafor (SF Okor, eBook, eAudiobook)

After being fired and facing yet another novel rejection, aspiring author and wheelchair user Zelu writes a futuristic epic novel about AI and robots. She unknowingly sets herself on a path to literary stardom that could change the future of humanity while struggling with PTSD from the accident that left her disabled.