Skip to content


In his seminal new study of family, Far From the Tree, Andrew Solomon tells the stories of parents who learn to deal with their exceptional children and find profound meaning in doing so.

He introduces us to families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, disability, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, Solomon documents repeated triumphs of human love and compassion and explores themes of generosity, acceptance and tolerance, to show that the shared experience of difference is what unites us and expands our definition of what it is to be human.