Local Author Featured in "Our State" Magazine

At Home in the Land of Oz, written by North Carolina author Anne Clinard Barnhill, is featured in the November 2007 issue of Our State magazine in the "quick lit" section. This is a well-written and illuminating work, and below is the book description from our website:

Anne Barnhill and her younger sister Becky grew up in small town America in the 1950s and ‘60s, long before autism was a common diagnosis. Becky was diagnosed with “emotional disturbance” early in her childhood, and Anne chronicles her family’s struggle to maintain a normal life amid the chaos of her sister’s behaviors and ever-changing needs. Anne recounts how the decision to place Becky in institutional facilities early on, for rehabilitation and reprieve, left marks on her family that will endure forever. Many details Anne did not discover until she became an adult are revealed in this tale of two sisters, such as the struggle to find a proper diagnosis and the financial and emotional burdens her parents endured, but kept from her. She also frankly discusses her own coming of age against the backdrop of disability and the guilt, pain, faith, courage, and acceptance she found along the way. As the girls grow up, their similarities and differences shine through, from Beatlemania and The Wizard of Oz to boys, jobs, and leaving home for good. At the age of 37 Becky began a new chapter in her life when she was properly diagnosed with autism, and Anne began her new journey as, what she has called, "her sister’s keeper."