A review by andintothetrees
The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard

5.0

(4.5 stars) I absolutely loved this book about a young woman with autism (it's never named as such as far as I remember, but strongly implied) and how she ventures out into the world after her mother falls ill and goes to live in a nursing home. Ellie uncovers some family secrets and how much she can do, despite her mother's insistence otherwise. The ambivalence of her mother's control mixed with her love and desire to protect Ellie was well-handled, with no easy answers. I have read quite a few books in the "sheltered person ventures out into the world and realises it can be beautiful" trope and one thing I particularly appreciated about this one was that it wasn't always easy and fun for Ellie to put herself out there and try new things - sometimes things went wrong, or people weren't nice, and this felt real. After all, if people were never scary and things were never difficult or stressful then no-one would have anxiety or find it hard to navigate the world. Nevertheless, the book has a happy ending and is an uplifting read. And finally, it's well-written and both easy and fun to read - I found it very hard to put down.